first and foremost

first and foremost

1. (set phrase) Primarily; most importantly.
   • 1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], Wuthering Heights, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], OCLC 156123328:

     "There are many things to be considered before that question can be answered properly," I said, sententiously. "First and foremost, do you love Mr. Edgar?"

   • 2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide‎, page 2:

     First and foremost, there is currently lacking any single text which comes close to cataloguing the great variety of terms in use.

• above all; see also Thesaurus:above all