introduction
Pluralintroductions (some meanings)
- 1The act or process of bringing something into use, practice, or knowledge for the first time.
The introduction of the printing press transformed how knowledge spread.
Farmers resisted the introduction of mechanized harvesting at first.
Similaradoption, launch, establishment, institution, inauguration
Oppositeabolition, withdrawal, removal
Note
Every other sense grows from this one, which English borrowed through Old French from Latin intrōdūctiō, the noun of intrōdūcō. To a modern reader it is simply introduce plus -tion. It usually takes a double construction: the introduction of something new into a place or system, as with a product into the market. Use it as a countable noun for a single instance and as an uncountable noun for the process in general.
- 2The opening section of a book or article that presents and frames the subject material to follow.
The author uses the introduction to outline the book's central argument.
Reviewers praised the introduction for setting up the historical context so clearly.
Similarpreface, foreword, prologue, preamble, opening
Oppositeconclusion, epilogue, afterword
Note
Publishing keeps the introduction apart from the preface, and a single book can carry both, each by a different hand: a preface by a well-known botanist, for instance, and an introduction by the author's mentor. Treat them as separate parts when you cite or describe a book. The introduction is the one that takes up the subject material itself.
- 3A means of presenting one person to another, such as a personal letter or a spoken word of recommendation.
He carried a letter of introduction from his professor to the research institute.
Without a proper introduction, she felt awkward approaching the senator at the reception.
Similarrecommendation, presentation
Note
Here the word can name the occasion as well as the means. When David is groggy at his introduction to Sophie, it is the moment of being presented that he half-misses, not any letter. The possessive marks who is being presented, and to marks the person they meet. A letter of introduction carries the means; an introduction to someone is the meeting itself.
- 4A written or spoken explanation that sets out the basis or background of an issue.
The report opens with an introduction explaining the policy's economic rationale.
She prefaced her proposal with a brief introduction to the underlying problem.
Similaroverview, preamble, preface, prelude, background
Oppositeconclusion
Note
This is the sense that heads course titles, as in Introduction to Economics, or ECON 101 in catalog shorthand. The pattern is introduction to followed by a field, and it promises the groundwork of a subject rather than the whole of it. In presenting one person to another, to points at a person. Here it points at a topic.
Practice
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Origin
From Middle English introduccioun, borrowed from Old French introduction, which came from Latin intrōdūctiō (built on intrōdūcō); by surface analysis it can be seen as intro- + Latin dūctiō, or introduce + -tion.