SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
firsthand
adjective
Gained directly through personal experience or observation.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Directly experienced
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topEyewitness applies to something seen; firsthand can also involve direct participation or other personal experience.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See firsthand in use
The interview provided a firsthand account of the expedition's final day.
A campus journalist was investigating why a delivery missed the student book fair. Her firsthand account came from watching the driver wait at a locked entrance, rather than hearing the story from another reporter.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license