earlier是什么意思？

I'm afraid I can't come any earlier because I have three classes this afternoon.

These findings echo earlier research that suggests our perception of food can sometimes trick our body's response to the food itself.

Jane should have started a little earlier.

Americans today have more free time than earlier generations

In an earlier generation, we lost our connection to the land, and now we are losing our connection to the machinery we depend on," says Michael Hout, a sociologist at the University of California, Berkeley.

One recent change in college admissions is that selective colleges and universities have moved the traditional deadline to earlier dates.