originate
Americanverb (used without object)
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originates,
present (3rd person singular)
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originated,
past participle, past
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originating
present participle
-
to take its origin or rise; begin; start; arise.
The practice originated during the Middle Ages.
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(of a train, bus, or other public conveyance) to begin a scheduled run at a specified place.
This train originates at Philadelphia.
verb (used with object)
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originates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
originated,
past participle, past
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originating
present participle
verb
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to come or bring into being
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(intr) (of a bus, train, etc) to begin its journey at a specified point
Synonym Usage
See discover.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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originationnoun
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originatornoun
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self-originationnoun
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originableadjective
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self-originatedadjective
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self-originatingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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originatesimple
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originatessimple
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have originatedperfect
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has originatedperfect
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am originatingprogressive
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are originatingprogressive
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is originatingprogressive
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have been originatingperfect progressive
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has been originatingperfect progressive
Past
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originatedsimple
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had originatedperfect
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was originatingprogressive
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were originatingprogressive
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had been originatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of originate
First recorded in 1645–55; probably back formation from origination (from French ), from Latin orīginātiō “etymology”; see origin, -ate 1, ion
Explanation
Originate is a verb that means to start or create something. You can originate the idea of adding a fancy new coffee machine to your company's break room, and before long, your entire office could be happily drinking mocha lattes. Originate is the place or point at which any new thing or idea starts. It usually doesn't end there, though. A carpet that originates in Turkey can travel all the way to an apartment in New York. A rumor can originate during first period, but by lunchtime it will have made its way around the entire high school.
Vocabulary lists containing originate
100 SAT words Beginning with "O"
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Jumpstart Your Vocab: Synonyms for "Begin"
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Ten Words from Today's NY Times - June 6, 2012
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Equally important, the field strengths favored by the data, about five to 10 pico-Gauss today, are close to what would be needed for galaxy and cluster magnetic fields to originate from primordial seeds alone.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 4, 2026
“The practice of filming staff on Capitol Hill did not originate with me,” Ms. Townsend said in a written statement, defending the practice as “legitimate” reporting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
Evidence suggests these cells contribute to neurodegeneration, but researchers have not known where they originate or what prompts them to gather in the brain.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 28, 2026
The treaty governs the use of water from six rivers, whose headwaters originate in India but flow into Pakistan as part of the Indus basin -- a resource relied on by hundreds of millions.
From Barron's ● Aug. 31, 2026
The three doctors had attended a séance at the Phelps House and noticed that the rapping sounds seemed to originate closer to Maggie.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
Much of this originates from an elaborate system involving ship-to-ship transfers of Iranian oil, which often move Iranian oil from sanctioned tankers onto unsanctioned ones.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
The classic example is of dubious historical accuracy, but originates from the British occupation of India.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
The Rhine originates in the Swiss Alps, flows through and along the borders of several countries, and empties into the North Sea in the Netherlands.
From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026
"Our study shows, more precisely than ever before, how much carbon is safely stored in the seabed - and just how much of the decomposed material actually originates from the old permafrost," says Manuel Ruben.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 3, 2026
That someone who originates a new idea has a right to be acknowledged seems to us obvious, but this idea was fundamentally new.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
The justices on Monday will open their new term with a major climate change case that originated in Boulder.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026
Yet scientists have had little direct evidence showing just how far a shark swimming freely in the ocean can hear, or whether it can tell where a distant sound originated.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 30, 2026
Retrieving busted bots on stretchers, one of the Humanoid Games’ best visual gags, may actually have originated with her league.
From Slate ● Sep. 27, 2026
He said he was interested to find out where the gold originated from.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
Recent discoveries indicate that at least one domesticated variant, einkorn wheat, originated in the Karaçadag Hills—less than twenty miles from Göbekli Tepe.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
The Recording Academy announced the new category in June, saying it would recognise "artistic excellence in Asian pop music performances originating from or widely recognized within Asian markets".
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
The central possibility remains compelling: some changes associated with aging may be influenced by signals originating in a small part of the brain.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026
"A disaster originating in one part of the Himalayan region can have consequences far beyond national boundaries, affecting river systems, ecosystems, livelihoods and communities across South Asia."
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
In this role, the lawsuit said, she was responsible for originating and developing projects, attaching filmmakers, assembling financing and producing films from preproduction through delivery.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
A Big Bang had occurred, originating at the bridge of her nose, and the force of this explosion had sent galaxies of freckles hurtling and drifting to every end of her curved, warm-blooded universe.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
