INITIATE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Initiate

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/ɪnˈɪʃiˌeɪt/ Listen

verb

Initiate v. t. (past & past part. initiated; pres. part. initiating)

1.

To introduce by a first act; to make a beginning with; to set afoot; to originate; to commence; to begin or enter upon. "How are changes of this sort to be initiated?"

2.

To acquaint with the beginnings; to instruct in the rudiments or principles; to introduce. "Providence would only initiate mankind into the useful knowledge of her treasures, leaving the rest to employ our industry." "To initiate his pupil into any part of learning, an ordinary skill in the governor is enough."

3.

To introduce into a society or organization; to confer membership on; especially, to admit to a secret order with mysterious rites or ceremonies. "The Athenians believed that he who was initiated and instructed in the mysteries would obtain celestial honor after death." "He was initiated into half a dozen clubs before he was one and twenty."

Initiate v. i. To do the first act; to perform the first rite; to take the initiative. (R.)

noun

Initiate n. One who is, or is to be, initiated.

adjective

Initiate adj.

1.

Unpracticed; untried; new. (Obs.) "The initiate fear that wants hard use."

2.

Begun; commenced; introduced to, or instructed in, the rudiments; newly admitted. "To rise in science as in bliss, Initiate in the secrets of the skies."

Initiate tenant by courtesy (Law), said of a husband who becomes such in his wife's estate of inheritance by the birth of a child, but whose estate is not consummated till the death of the wife.

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Etymology of 'Initiate'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Initiate" Quotes from Famous Books

... was then a body of men without a recognized and ascertained constituency, called together in an exigency and without preparation, and invited to initiate measures for the amendment of the Constitution in most important particulars, and all at a moment when the public mind was swayed by fears and alarms such as have never before been experienced by the ...

— A Report of the Debates and Proceedings in the Secret Sessions of the Conference Convention • Lucius Eugene Chittenden

... youthful beauty glow'd, And life's redundant and rejoicing streams Gave to the soulless, soul—where'er they flow'd. Man gifted Nature with divinity To lift and link her to the breast of Love; All things betray'd to the initiate eye ...

— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 54, No. 334, August 1843 • Various

... humour, or in fact to understand what was meant by it. So when he was on tour with his readings a friend of mine, who was his host, in the North, undertook to initiate him into the mysteries of Irish wit. As a sample he gave Dickens the following: A definition of nothing,—a footless stocking without a leg. This conveyed nothing whatever to the mind of the greatest of English ...

— The Confessions of a Caricaturist, Vol. 1 (of 2) • Harry Furniss

... an increased activity of growth may be shown at these periods. The onset of natural cure is recognised by the tumour becoming firmer and less compressible, and, in the mixed variety, by the colour becoming less bright. Injury, infection, or ulceration of the overlying skin may initiate the ...

— Manual of Surgery - Volume First: General Surgery. Sixth Edition. • Alexis Thomson and Alexander Miles

... up, adopted the principles of Saint John Chrysostom, who wrote that "the virgin state is as far above the marriage state as the angel is above humanity." Accustomed to reverence her uncle, Mademoiselle Cormon dared not initiate him into the desires which filled her soul for a change of state. The worthy man, accustomed, on his side, to the ways of the house, would scarcely have liked the introduction of a husband. Preoccupied ...

— An Old Maid • Honore de Balzac

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