"first come first served" meaning in English

See first come first served in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: first-come first-served [alternative], first come, first served [alternative], first-come, first-served [alternative], first-come-first-served [alternative], first come first serve [alternative]
Head templates: {{en-noun|-}} first come first served (uncountable)
  1. (business, management, retail) A service policy or distributive rule under which access to a good, service, or decision is allocated according to the chronological order of requests or arrivals, so that earlier claimants receive priority over later ones. Tags: uncountable Related terms: FIFO, first in first out, open seating
    Sense id: en-first_come_first_served-en-noun-RsflIOeX Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Business, Management Topics: business, commerce, management, retail

Alternative forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "first-come first-served",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "first come, first served",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "first-come, first-served",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "first-come-first-served",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "first come first serve",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "first come first served (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Business",
          "orig": "en:Business",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Management",
          "orig": "en:Management",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A service policy or distributive rule under which access to a good, service, or decision is allocated according to the chronological order of requests or arrivals, so that earlier claimants receive priority over later ones."
      ],
      "id": "en-first_come_first_served-en-noun-RsflIOeX",
      "links": [
        [
          "business",
          "business"
        ],
        [
          "management",
          "management"
        ],
        [
          "retail",
          "retail"
        ],
        [
          "service",
          "service"
        ],
        [
          "policy",
          "policy"
        ],
        [
          "distributive",
          "distributive"
        ],
        [
          "rule",
          "rule"
        ],
        [
          "access",
          "access"
        ],
        [
          "good",
          "good"
        ],
        [
          "service",
          "service"
        ],
        [
          "decision",
          "decision"
        ],
        [
          "allocated",
          "allocated"
        ],
        [
          "according",
          "according"
        ],
        [
          "chronological",
          "chronological"
        ],
        [
          "order",
          "order"
        ],
        [
          "request",
          "request"
        ],
        [
          "arrival",
          "arrival"
        ],
        [
          "claimant",
          "claimant"
        ],
        [
          "receive",
          "receive"
        ],
        [
          "priority",
          "priority"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(business, management, retail) A service policy or distributive rule under which access to a good, service, or decision is allocated according to the chronological order of requests or arrivals, so that earlier claimants receive priority over later ones."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "FIFO"
        },
        {
          "word": "first in first out"
        },
        {
          "word": "open seating"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "business",
        "commerce",
        "management",
        "retail"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "first come first served"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "first-come first-served",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "first come, first served",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "first-come, first-served",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "first-come-first-served",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "first come first serve",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "first come first served (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "FIFO"
    },
    {
      "word": "first in first out"
    },
    {
      "word": "open seating"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English uncountable nouns",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "en:Business",
        "en:Management"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A service policy or distributive rule under which access to a good, service, or decision is allocated according to the chronological order of requests or arrivals, so that earlier claimants receive priority over later ones."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "business",
          "business"
        ],
        [
          "management",
          "management"
        ],
        [
          "retail",
          "retail"
        ],
        [
          "service",
          "service"
        ],
        [
          "policy",
          "policy"
        ],
        [
          "distributive",
          "distributive"
        ],
        [
          "rule",
          "rule"
        ],
        [
          "access",
          "access"
        ],
        [
          "good",
          "good"
        ],
        [
          "service",
          "service"
        ],
        [
          "decision",
          "decision"
        ],
        [
          "allocated",
          "allocated"
        ],
        [
          "according",
          "according"
        ],
        [
          "chronological",
          "chronological"
        ],
        [
          "order",
          "order"
        ],
        [
          "request",
          "request"
        ],
        [
          "arrival",
          "arrival"
        ],
        [
          "claimant",
          "claimant"
        ],
        [
          "receive",
          "receive"
        ],
        [
          "priority",
          "priority"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(business, management, retail) A service policy or distributive rule under which access to a good, service, or decision is allocated according to the chronological order of requests or arrivals, so that earlier claimants receive priority over later ones."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "business",
        "commerce",
        "management",
        "retail"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "first come first served"
}

Download raw JSONL data for first come first served meaning in English (1.9kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-08-07 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-08-05 using wiktextract (d9fa233 and 9e92f4b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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