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initiative. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
initiative, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
initiative in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
initiative you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From French initiative, from Medieval Latin *initiativus (“serving to initiate”), from Late Latin initiare (“to begin, Latin initiate”), from Latin initium (“beginning”), from ineo (“enter, begin”).
Pronunciation
Adjective
initiative (not comparable)
- Serving to initiate; inceptive; initiatory; introductory; preliminary.
- In which voter initiatives can be brought to the ballot.
- a. 2008, John G. Matsusaka, "Direct Democracy and the Executive Branch", in, 2008, Shaun Bowler and Amihai Glazer, editors, Direct Democracy's Impact on American Political Institutions, Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, page 122 :
- The second row shows that initiative states fill more constitutional offices by election than noninitiative states, and the difference is statistically significant after controlling for region and population.
Antonyms
Translations
Noun
initiative (countable and uncountable, plural initiatives)
- A beginning; a first move.
- A new development; a fresh approach to something; a new way of dealing with a problem.
- The ability to act first or on one's own.
- (politics) An issue to be voted on, brought to the ballot by a sufficient number of signatures from among the voting public.
- Hyponym: direct initiative
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
a beginning; a first move
a new development; a fresh approach to something; a new way of dealing with a problem
the ability to act first or on one's own
Translations to be checked
Further reading
- “initiative”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “initiative”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “initiative”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
French
Etymology
From Medieval Latin *initiativus (“serving to initiate”), from Late Latin initiare (“to begin, Latin initiate”), from Latin initium (“beginning”), from ineo (“enter, begin”).
Pronunciation
Noun
initiative f (plural initiatives)
- initiative
- prendre l’initiative ― to take the initiative
- faire preuve d’initiative ― to show initiative
Derived terms
Further reading