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initiate

verb · noun

Simple meaning

To instruct in the rudiments or principles.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

ihnisheeayt

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ɪˈnɪʃieɪt

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. transitive

    To instruct in the rudiments or principles; to introduce.

  2. transitive

    To begin; to start.

  3. transitive

    To confer membership on; especially, to admit to a secret order with mysterious rites or ceremonies.

  4. intransitive

    To do the first act; to perform the first rite; to take the initiative.

noun

  1. One who has been through a ceremony of initiation.

  2. A new member of an organization.

  3. Someone who has been admitted to membership in a scholarly field

  4. One who is oriented in and familiar with a topic or subject; especially, one who is an expert in it.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: To instruct in the rudiments or principles; to introduce.

Used this way, initiate is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use initiate

  • “African men are initiated when they reach puberty.”verb
  • “It is very familiar to the initiate.”noun
  • “He initiated a new program.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

initiate actioninitiate legislation

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • initiatornounPerson or profession

    A person who initiates a course of action.

  • initiativenounDerived noun

    Readiness to embark on bold new ventures.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: to instruct in the rudiments or principles

start

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.