How to Use first among equals in a Sentence

first among equals

noun phrase
  • Gara naturally takes to the cause and emerges as first among equals.
    Murtada Elfadl, Variety, 1 Feb. 2026
  • Roosevelt showed that the president was not first among equals.
    Gautam Mukunda, Mercury News, 20 June 2026
  • In the Post-Impressionist pantheon, the French painter Paul Cézanne is first among equals.
    J. S. Marcus, Air Mail, 24 Jan. 2026
  • Like the chief justice of the Supreme Court, the Fed chair represents just one vote but is also a first among equals who carried outsized influence.
    Jason Ma, Fortune, 24 Aug. 2025
  • The first among equals, so to speak, was Studio Gang — which deployed two teams of designers to Mission Rock, one on the larger plan and one on what became Verde.
    John King, San Francisco Chronicle, 9 Aug. 2024
  • In short order, McNamara became first among equals in Kennedy’s cabinet, winning plaudits for his use of systems analysis to make the Pentagon function more economically by reducing weapons redundancies among the services and better allocating resources.
    Foreign Affairs, 16 Dec. 2025

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