initially

ih-NISH-uh-lee

meaning in plain English

At first, before anything else happens.

Imagine a movie's opening scene: initially the lights dim, setting the stage before the story unfolds.

for example

Initially, I hated waking up early, but now I don’t mind it.

When you first meet someone, initially you might not trust them, but after a few conversations, you realize they’re actually quite kind. Why does that first impression stick with us so strongly? Because initially, we rely on snap judgments to make sense of the world.