first and foremost

first and foremost

1. (set phrase) Primarily; most importantly.
   • 1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], Wuthering Heights: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC:

     "There are many things to be considered before that question can be answered properly," I said, sententiously. "First and foremost, do you love Mr. Edgar?"

   • 2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide‎, page 2:

     First and foremost, there is currently lacking any single text which comes close to cataloguing the great variety of terms in use.

   • 2023 December 27, Richard Foster, “New rail freight terminal leads the way”, in RAIL, number 999, page 39:

     That progress has taken over ten years and £20 million to bring to fruition. But, as Mands explains, the journey has been one that HSG has been almost obligated to undertake. "First and foremost, this is an environmental project," she says.

• above all; see also Thesaurus:above all