Meaning & use
firsthand
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a noun
Gained by your own direct experience or from the original source, not from what others say.
Grammar: Comes before a noun: firsthand experience, a firsthand account.
Patterns
- firsthand experience of something
- a firsthand account
She has firsthand knowledge of life on a fishing boat.
The museum collected firsthand accounts from survivors.
Reporters sought firsthand evidence before publishing the story.
adverbnot comparable
By seeing, doing, or hearing something yourself rather than through other people.
Grammar: Usually after the verb: learn it firsthand, see it firsthand.
Patterns
- experience something firsthand
- hear something firsthand
I wanted to see the glacier firsthand.
Doctors learned about the illness firsthand.
He heard the news firsthand from the mayor.
Common combinations
- firsthand experience
- Firsthand experience taught her more than any book.
- firsthand account
- The film includes a firsthand account of the storm.
- see firsthand
- Volunteers saw firsthand how the program helped families.
- learn firsthand
- We learned firsthand that mountain weather can change fast.
- firsthand knowledge
- He has firsthand knowledge of the area.
Synonyms and how they differ
- direct
- Direct is broader and can describe anything without a middleman, while firsthand is specifically about personal experience or source.
- personal
- Personal says something belongs to you, but firsthand says you experienced it yourself.
- eyewitness
- Eyewitness applies only to what someone saw, whereas firsthand can also include doing or hearing.
- original
- Original describes the source itself, while firsthand describes how knowledge reaches you.
Opposites
Word family
- first adjective
- coming before all others
- secondhand adjective
- gained through someone else or previously used
- hand noun
- the body part used to hold things
Commonly confused: firsthand or secondhand?
firsthand vs secondhand
Secondhand means learned from or owned by someone else before; firsthand means directly from the source.
Practice
Complete the sentence: She didn't just read about the flood; she saw the damage _____.
Choose one answer.
Firsthand means directly, with her own eyes. Secondhand means the opposite, through someone else.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “firsthand”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.