nascent
adjective
Simple meaning
Emerging; just coming into existence.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
naysuhntSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈneɪsənt
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Emerging; just coming into existence.
Describing the state, aspect, or practice of an abstract concept.
chemistry
Of the state of an element at the time it is being generated from some compound or transitioning from one state to another; Newly released from a compound (especially hydrogen and oxygen) by a chemical reaction or electrolysis and possessing heightened reactivity; Newly synthesized (especially protein or RNA) by translation or transcription.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Varies by meaning
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Describing the state, aspect, or practice of an abstract concept.
Used this way, nascent 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.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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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.