in the first instance

in the first instance

1. As the first step or stage; first.
   • 1959 March, “New Railways in Quebec”, in Railway Magazine, page 202:

     Work on the muskeg resulted in the formation in the first instance, and later in lengths of newly-laid track disappearing without trace into the treacherous bog.

• “in the first instance”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “in the first instance”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “in the first instance” (US) / “in the first instance” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
• “in the first instance”, in Collins English Dictionary.