initial
Part of speech: adj
noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: arts
calligraphy
communications
human-sciences
journalism
linguistics
literature
media
phonology
publishing
sciences
typography
writing
Etymology: From Middle French initial or directly from its Latin etymon initiālis (“of the beginning, incipient, initial”), from initium (“a going in, entrance, beginning”), from inire (“to go in, enter upon, begin”), from in (“in”) + ire (“to go”).
Inflected forms:
form: initials
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: initials
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: initialing
pos: verb
tags: US
participle
present
form: initialling
pos: verb
tags: UK
participle
present
form: initialed
pos: verb
tags: US
participle
past
form: initialed
pos: verb
tags: US
past
form: initialled
pos: verb
tags: UK
participle
past
form: initialled
pos: verb
tags: UK
past
Senses:
gloss: Chronologically first, early; of or pertaining to the beginning, cause or origin.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: Our initial admiration for their efficiency gave way to disgust about their methods.
The initial stages of a syndrome may differ vastly from the final symptoms.
Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost, by exerting her personality to the utmost. She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.
While the first part to Manchester is level after the initial climb out of Liverpool, the section over the Pennines between Manchester and Leeds is very difficult, with steep gradients as well as many slowings over junctions and curves.
gloss: Spatially first, placed at the beginning, in the first position; especially said of the first letter of a word.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: The initial letter of names is usually printed with a capital letter.
Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.
gloss: The first letter of a word or a name, especially of a person's full name (their initials).
pos: noun
examples: The point of interest about this particular specimen was that it must have remained intact for at least a quarter of a century, as it had embossed in the frosted glass the initials of the old Great North of Scotland Railway in the form of a scroll, the sort of relic of pre-grouping days that can still be found here and there if one is observant.
gloss: A distinguished initial letter of a chapter or section of a document.
pos: noun
gloss: onset, part of a syllable that precedes the syllable nucleus in phonetics and phonology.
pos: noun
gloss: To sign one's initial(s), as an abbreviated signature.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Please initial each page and sign the contract in full at the bottom.
Synonyms: incipient
inceptive
opening
beginning
commencing
earliest
first
initial
maiden
nascent
original
primary
prime
primeval
primitive
primordial
starting
drop cap
versal
Antonyms: final
eternal
Related words: former
natal
monogram
Derived words: coinitial
head-initial
initial caps
initial coin offering
initial condition
initially
initial mass function
initialness
initial object
initial point
initial public offering
initial reject
initial setting time
initial topology
initial-value problem
initial value problem
noninitial
peninitial
wordinitial
preinitial
initialese
initialism
initialist
initial teaching alphabet
middle initial
Translations: