Revised as of
18 Dec 2022
While premier and premiere are all about the first of anything, premier is strictly about the time, occurrence, or rank. Premiere is about the first time someone or something performs. Or is the leading lady of a theatrical production.
And this was my own word confusion. I find myself dithering between adding that e on the end or not!
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| Premier | Premiere |
|---|---|
John Sandfield Macdonald by William James Topley is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. — In 1867, John Sandfield Macdonald became the first premier of the newly created province of Ontario. |
Teresa Palmer by Eva Rinaldi Celebrity and Live Music Photographer is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, via Flickr. — Teresa Palmer poses at the start of the premiere for The Hunger Games. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Adjective 1; Noun 2
Plural for the noun: premiers |
Noun; Verb, intransitive & transitive Plural for the noun: premieres Third person present verb: premieres |
| Adjective: [Attrib. & Prenominal] First in importance, order, rank, or position 1
First in time, occurrence
Noun:
A chief officer [Australia; plural use only] The winners of a premiership |
Adjective: First
Noun: The leading lady in a theatre company Verb, intransitive: To perform publicly for the first time, as in a particular role, entertainment medium, etc. Verb, transitive: |
| Examples: | |
| Adjective: As far as I’m concerned, Jethro Tull is the premier rock ‘n roll flautist. The New York Times is the premier national newspaper. The premier issue of the quarterly for the college came out last month. “Female stars of the nation’s premier improv collective read a gay friend’s Grindr messages” (Holmes). “When most of us think of the premier retirement destination for unrepentant Nazis, our minds immediately turn to South America” (Walters). Noun: In 2017, Mark McGowan was the premier in Western Australia. |
Adjective: It was the premiere showing for Iron Man. Nicole Kidman’s gown was the premiere attraction of the evening. Noun: “Most recently, Karl Lagerfeld hosted a grand fête celebrating the premiere of his film Reincarnation” (Jones). Edward Small had planned to make a film version of the play The Mousetrap with Maria Schell as the premiere, but it came to naught. Verb, intransitive: The seventh season for Game of Thrones premiered in Los Angeles on Wednesday night. It will premiere at the Arcadia Theater. When does he premiere as Hamlet? Verb, transitive: Our little Maggie is premiering in her first musical solo Thursday night. |
| Derivatives: | |
| Noun: premiership | |
| History of the Word: | |
In US usage, premier formerly was applied occasionally to the Secretary of State (1855–c.1900). |
Late 19th century from the French première, the feminine of premier meaning first. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Premier versus Premiere
Apple Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com: premier, premiere
Holmes, Jack. The Ladies of Second City Read Grindr Hookup Messages. The Daily Beast Video. 10 Dec 2014. The Daily Beast. Last updated 21 Apr 2017. Web. n.d. <https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-ladies-of-second-city-read-grindr-hookup-messages?source=dictionary>.
Jones, Justin. “Inside The World’s 10 Oldest Restaurants.” The Daily Beast.
19 Dec 2014. Web. n.d. <https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-the-worlds-10-oldest-restaurants?source=dictionary>.
Walters, Guy. “Hitler’s Henchmen in Arabia”, 6 Dec 2014. Web. n.d. <https://www.thedailybeast.com/hitlers-henchmen-in-arabia?source=dictionary>.
Pinterest Photo Credits:
Queen Elizabeth II and the Prime Ministers of the Commonwealth Nations, 1960, Windsor Castle, courtesy of the Diefenbaker Centre and the British Government. The image is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
