initiate

Formsinitiates, initiating, initiated

Pluralinitiates

1. 1
   verbtransitive

   To cause something to begin; to set a process or action in motion.

   The committee voted to initiate an investigation into the spending.

   She initiated contact with the supplier before the deadline.

   Similarstart (entry), begin, launch, institute, commence

   Oppositeend, terminate, conclude, halt

   Note

   Latin built this word from in- and eō, "to go": a beginning was a going in, an entrance. In English it is the formal choice for setting a process in motion, whether changes, a system or an investigation. Engineers and scientists use it for the moment a mechanism is set off, as when a surgeon initiates laser pulses or physicists weigh the problem of initiating a bomb.

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To admit someone to membership, especially into a secret order through formal rites or ceremonies.

   The lodge will initiate the candidates at the solstice gathering.

   Elders initiated the young men into the brotherhood after a night-long vigil.

   Similarinduct, admit, enroll

   Oppositeexpel

   Note

   The ceremonial sense reaches back to the ancient mysteries. William Warburton describes Athenians who believed that anyone initiated in them would win celestial honor after death. By 1714 Joseph Addison could speak of a young man initiated into half a dozen clubs, so the word stretches easily from sacred orders to ordinary societies. Like the teaching sense, it takes into before the group joined.

3. 3
   verbtransitive

   To instruct someone in the first principles or basics of a subject; to introduce to a practice.

   The professor likes to initiate freshmen into the methods of careful research.

   His mentor initiated him into the family business at a young age.

   Similarintroduce, induct, familiarize, instruct

   Note

   Here the beginning happens in a person's mind. John Locke writes of initiating a pupil in a part of learning, and Henry More of Providence initiating mankind into useful knowledge, so both prepositions work: in or into, followed by the subject learned. The direct object is always the learner, never the knowledge itself.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   A person who has recently become a member of an organization.

   Each initiate was paired with a senior member as a mentor.

   The fraternity welcomed its newest initiates with a formal dinner.

   Similarnewcomer, recruit, inductee, novice, neophyte

   Oppositeveteran

5. 5
   nouncountable

   A person who has passed through a ceremony of initiation into a group or order.

   Once the vigil ended, the initiate emerged wearing the order's mark.

   The temple's initiates learned secrets withheld from ordinary worshippers.

   Similarinductee, adept

   Oppositeoutsider, layperson

6. 6
   nouncountable

   A person well versed in and familiar with a subject, especially one who is an expert in it.

   To the initiate, the jargon of the trade reads as plainly as everyday speech.

   These essays assume their readers are initiates, not beginners.

   Similarexpert, insider, adept, connoisseur, specialist

   Oppositenovice

   Note

   Insiders are initiates too, and here the word means mastery rather than newness. Its opposites are novice and noninitiate, which makes it a near-reversal of the newcomer sense: an initiate can be the freshest member of a club or the person who knows a field best. Only context tells them apart. The insider meaning implies knowledge that outsiders lack.

7. 7
   verbintransitive

   To perform the first act or take the initiative; to be the first to act.

   Good leaders initiate rather than wait for instructions.

   He always initiates when the group falls silent.

   Similaract

   Note

   Without an object, the word means going first. In Pope's Homer (1725–1726), "the king himself initiates" by scattering the sacred flour: he performs the opening rite of the sacrifice so that others may follow. The modern use keeps that shape, so someone simply initiates rather than waits. It differs from the plain "begin" sense in having no object.

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