initiate
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɪˈnɪʃ.i.eɪt/
ipa: /ɪˈnɪʃ.ɪ.eɪt/
ipa: /ɪˈnɪʃ.i.ət/
ipa: /ɪˈnɪʃ.ɪ.ət/
Forms: form: initiates
form: initiating
form: initiated
form: initiated
Etymology: Borrowed from Latin initiātus, perfect passive participle of initiō (“to begin, originate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from initium (“a beginning”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix), from initus (“an entrance, coming in, approach”) + -ium, from ineō + -tus, from in- + eō (“to go”). Cognate with French initier.
Senses: examples: text: How are changes of this sort to be initiated?
ref: 1860, Isaac Taylor, “(please specify the page)”, in Ultimate Civilization and Other Essays, London: Bell and Daldy […], →OCLC:
text: Indigenous people, such as agriculturists, hunters, and pastoralists initiated a system of totemism and tabooism which in essence was a natural law against killing and eating certain animals.
ref: 1978, David Dhlalangami Maforo, Black-white Relations in Kenya Game Policy, page 5:
text: A U235 bomb would therefore need to incorporate a gun weighing ten tons. Then there was the question of initiating or triggering the bomb.
ref: 2011, Jim Baggott, The First War of Physics, Pegasus Books, →ISBN:
text: Prior to firing the laser, a surgeon can preilluminate the area to be cut or ablated, enlarge or reduce the area, shape, or size, and then initiate the UV laser pulses for the actual ablation.
ref: 2014, David L. Elliott, Ultraviolet Laser Technology and Applications, page 320:
text: With the exception of anelloviruses, bidnaviruses, spiraviruses, and some inoviruses, the replicative protein of ssDNA viruses is the so-called HUH endonuclease that cuts genomic DNA at a specific site and initiates rolling circle (or rolling hairpin) replication.
ref: 2021 February 24, Encyclopedia of Virology, Academic Press, →ISBN, page 43:
glosses: To begin; to start.
examples: text: Divine Providence would only initiate and enter mankind into the useful knowledge of her, leaving the rest to employ our industry.
ref: 1653, Henry More, An Antidote against Atheisme, or An Appeal to the Natural Faculties of the Minde of Man, whether There Be Not a God, London: […] Roger Daniel, […], →OCLC:
text: to initiate his pupil in any part of learning
ref: 1693, [John Locke], “§94”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To instruct in the rudiments or principles; to introduce.
examples: text: The Athenians believed that he who was initiated and instructed in the mysteries would obtain celestial honour after death.
ref: 1738–1741, William Warburton, The Divine Legation of Moses […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II.1, or II.2), London: […] Fletcher Gyles, […], →OCLC:
text: He was initiated into half a dozen clubs before he was one and twenty.
ref: 1714 August 15 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “WEDNESDAY, August 4, 1714”, in The Spectator, number 576; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume VI, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:
glosses: To confer membership on; especially, to admit to a secret order with mysterious rites or ceremonies.
examples: text: The king himself initiates to the power; Scatters with quivering hand the sacred flour, And the stream sprinkles.
ref: 1725–1726, Homer, “Book 3”, in [William Broome, Elijah Fenton, Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC:
glosses: To do the first act; to perform the first rite; to take the initiative.
Synonyms: sense: to begin
word: commence
sense: to begin
word: institute
Derived terms: initiatee
initiatic
noninitiated
noninitiating
overinitiate
overinitiated
photoinitiate
photoinitiated
preinitiated
reinitiate
self-initiate
uninitiate
uninitiated
Related terms: word: initiable
word: initial
word: initialism
word: initialize
word: initials
word: initiation
word: initiative
word: initiator
english: to begin where one left off
translation: to begin where one left off
word: resume