INITIATE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • 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

... you are older I will go more into detail, but it is not worth while now to worry your head over columns of uninteresting figures. I shall open an account for you at the National Bank and you can draw on that for your expenses. Your aunt will initiate you into the mysteries of shopping. By the way, you must have gone through that experience in Barbadoes. How did you ...

— A Beautiful Possibility • Edith Ferguson Black

... wish to understand the old fen life, should read Ingulf's 'History of Crowland' (Mr. Bohn has published a good and cheap translation), and initiate themselves into a state of society, a form of thought, so utterly different from our own, that we seem to be reading of the inhabitants of another planet. Most amusing and most human is old Ingulf and his continuator, 'Peter of Blois;' ...

— Prose Idylls • Charles Kingsley

... the position of the enemy, he thought he might without danger initiate the vidame into the secrets of his situation. The old commander loved Auguste as a father loves his wife's children; he was shrewd, dexterous, and very diplomatic. He listened to the baron, shook his head, and they both ...

— The Thirteen • Honore de Balzac

... officer appointed by the sheriff, and irremovable on efficient and good behaviour, whose duties are to initiate the prosecution of crimes and inquire into deaths ...

— The Nuttall Encyclopaedia - Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge • Edited by Rev. James Wood

... 'Introductorie for to lerne to rede, to pronounce and to speke French trewly.' In addition to grammatical rules and dialogues, it contains a select vocabulary English and French. In 1514, Mary Tudor, younger sister of Henry VIII, became the unwilling bride of Louis XII of France. To initiate the princess in her husband's tongue, John Palsgrave, a native of London and graduate of Cambridge, who had subsequently studied in Paris, was chosen as her tutor, and accompanied her to France. For her use Palsgrave prepared his celebrated Esclarcissement de la Langue Francoyse, ...

— The evolution of English lexicography • James Augustus Henry Murray

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