INITIATIVE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Initiative

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/ɪnˈɪʃətɪv/ /ɪnˈɪʃjətɪv/ Listen

noun

Initiative n.

1.

An introductory step or movement; an act which originates or begins. "The undeveloped initiatives of good things to come."

2.

The right or power to introduce a new measure or course of action, as in legislation; as, the initiative in respect to revenue bills is in the House of Representatives.

3.

(Political Science) The right or procedure by which legislation may be introduced or enacted directly by the people, as in the Swiss Confederation and in many of the States of the United States; chiefly used with the. The procedure of the initiative is essentially as follows: Upon the filing of a petition signed by a required number or percentage of qualified voters the desired measure must be submitted to a popular vote, and upon receiving the required majority (commonly a majority of those voting on the measure submitted) it becomes a law. In some States of the United States the initiative is only local; in others it is state-wide and includes the making of constitutional amendments.

4.

A character trait manifested in a readiness and ability to initiate action; an enterprising spirit; a go-getting attitude; energy; drive; get-up-and-go.

5.

In interactive activities, such as conversation or games, the right or opportunity to set the course of action; as, to have the initiative.

adjective

Initiative adj. Serving to initiate; inceptive; initiatory; introductory; preliminary.

See images of 'Initiative'

Etymology of 'Initiative'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Initiative" Quotes from Famous Books

... initiative as usual. "Robbed seventeen birds' nests, climbed twenty-four trees, and jumped over a dozen ...

— The Maidens' Lodge - None of Self and All of Thee, (In the Reign of Queen Anne) • Emily Sarah Holt

... trade, despite the large and valuable cargoes of beaver pelts which it enabled New France to send home, was a curse to the colony. It drew from husbandry the best blood of the land, the young men of strength, initiative, and perseverance. It wrecked the health and character of thousands. It drew the Church and the civil government into profitless quarrels. The bishop flayed the governor for letting this trade go on. The governor could not, dared not, and sometimes did not want to ...

— The Seigneurs of Old Canada: - A Chronicle of New-World Feudalism • William Bennett Munro

... Nuova" is to tend towards this. Say what you will of the irresistible force of original constitution, it remains certain, and all history is there as witness, that mankind—that is to say, the only mankind in whom lies the initiative of good, mankind which can judge and select—possesses the faculty of feeling and acting in accordance with its standard of feeling and action; the faculty in great measure of becoming that which ...

— Euphorion - Being Studies of the Antique and the Mediaeval in the - Renaissance - Vol. II • Vernon Lee

... 287. George Francis Train on his own initiative spoke for woman suffrage before the ...

— Susan B. Anthony - Rebel, Crusader, Humanitarian • Alma Lutz

... is genuine action, capable of independence, initiative, and irreducible novelty, not mere result produced from outside, not simple extension of external mechanism, that it is so much ours as to constitute every moment, for him who can see, an essentially incomparable ...

— A New Philosophy: Henri Bergson • Edouard le Roy

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