initiates

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of initiate.

   The committee initiates new policies after a formal vote.

   A small spark initiates the chain of chemical reactions inside the engine.

   Note

   Usually transitive, it needs an object, and the object tells you which meaning is in play. A process or event means something is being begun (initiates talks, initiates a reaction). A person means someone is being introduced or admitted, often with into (initiates a recruit into the order, initiates students into the basics). With no object at all, it means taking the first step or the initiative.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of initiate.

   The monastery welcomed a dozen initiates at the start of the season.

   Senior members guided the initiates through their first rituals.

   Note

   The noun covers three kinds of people: new members of an organization, those who have been through a ceremony of initiation, and those at home in a subject, often its experts. Context decides which. The initiates of a secret order have been admitted, while the initiates of a field simply know it well. The same spelling is also the present-tense verb. A determiner such as the or a dozen before it marks the plural noun.

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