initial
The first letter of a word or a name, especially of a person's full name (their initials).
Adjective
- Chronologically first, early; of or pertaining to the beginning, cause or origin.
- Our initial admiration for their efficiency gave way to disgust about their methods.
- The initial stages of a syndrome may differ vastly from the final symptoms.
- Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost, by exerting her personality to the utmost. She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a...
- Spatially first, placed at the beginning, in the first position; especially said of the first letter of a word.
- The initial letter of names is usually printed with a capital letter.
- Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him...
Origin
From Middle French initial or directly from its Latin etymon initiālis (“of the beginning, incipient, initial”), from initium (“a going in, entrance, beginning”), from inire (“to go in, enter upon, begin”), from in (“in”) + ire (“to go”).
Synonyms
incipient inceptive opening beginning commencing earliest first initial maiden nascent original primary prime primeval primitive primordial starting
Antonyms
Hypernyms
Hyponyms
emergent elementary inchoate immature unripe aboriginal introductory prefatory preliminary premisory preparatory prolusory
Related
Derived
coinitial head-initial initial caps initial coin offering initial condition initially initial mass function initialness initial object initial point initial public offering initial reject initial setting time initial topology initial-value problem initial value problem noninitial peninitial preinitial wordinitial
Noun
- The first letter of a word or a name, especially of a person's full name (their initials).
- The point of interest about this particular specimen was that it must have remained intact for at least a quarter of a century, as it had embossed in the frosted glass the initials of the old Great North of Scotland...
- A distinguished initial letter of a chapter or section of a document.
- onset, part of a syllable that precedes the syllable nucleus in phonetics and phonology.
Forms
Synonyms
Related
Derived
initialese initialism initialist initial teaching alphabet middle initial preinitial
Verb
- To sign one's initial(s), as an abbreviated signature.
- Please initial each page and sign the contract in full at the bottom.