initiate

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ini‧ti‧ate

verb

• IPA ^(key): /ɪˈnɪʃ.ɪ.eɪt/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

noun

• IPA ^(key): /ɪˈnɪʃ.ɪ.ət/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Verb

Plain form initiate

Third-person singular initiates

Past tense initiated

Past participle initiated

Present participle initiating

1. (transitive) If you initiate something, you begin it, but other people join in or continue it.

   The U.S. military initiated a criminal investigation into the killings in March 2006.

   It is important for teachers to think about children's feelings before initiating classroom discussions of certain topics.

   In 1978, Deng Xiaoping initiated free-market reforms in China.

   Never give out personal information over the phone unless you initiated the contact.

2. (transitive) If you initiate someone into something, you give them their first experience with it.

   Many of the teens had been initiated into using drugs through their friends.

3. (transitive) If you initiate someone into a club or group, you bring them into the group, often with some ceremony.

   Last year, more than 150,000 adults were initiated into the Catholic Church in the United States.

Synonyms

• open
• start
• begin
• coach
• train
• teach
• admit
• introduce

Related words

• initiation
• initiative
• initiator
• uninitiated

Noun

Singular initiate

Plural initiates

1. (countable) A new member of a group.
2. (countable) A person who has been through an initiation.

Related words

• student
• freshman
• recruit