originate
Americanverb (used without object)
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originates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
originated,
past participle, past
-
originating
present participle
-
to take its origin or rise; begin; start; arise.
The practice originated during the Middle Ages.
-
(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
-
originating
present participle
verb
-
to come or bring into being
-
(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:
Several major rivers flowing through these countries originate on the Tibetan Plateau.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
"We wish to clarify that the document and information in question do not originate from official sources and are untrue," it said on Telegram.
From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026
"The shows driving the industry forward largely originate on streaming platforms, yet the awards themselves were tethered to broadcast television," Proulx said.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
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
"Let us say that I am as American as pizza pie. I did not originate here, but I am here to stay."
From "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg
The Kelvin wave is essentially both a cause and a symptom of El Nino, said Amaya, and originates in waters near Indonesia when trade winds die down.
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
Researchers now want to determine exactly how much gas these winds remove over time and identify where within the disk the escaping material originates.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 28, 2026
The Fed could decide that much of the recent inflation pressure originates from energy and geopolitical disruption and leave rates unchanged.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026
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
We can look at where the waterway originates in the mountains, or an area that it flows through, or where it spills into the ocean.
From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila
Basalts collected by Chang'e-6 show chemical signatures indicating that they originated from depleted mantle material, much like the low-Ti basalts brought back by Apollo astronauts.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026
Kuala Lumpur Kepong said in a statement that a "majority" of the fires originated from beyond its concession area and had all been extinguished.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
The fate of these women and their children has proven a sticking point for the Western countries from where some originated, with many trapped or stripped of their citizenship by their former homelands.
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026
The musicians in front of you are not the humans who originated the music, and that matters because the energy is not the same .
From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2026
I was fairly certain that, if you traced the lineage of all the desserts in the world, each and every one originated in Yazd.
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
And Meta has previously removed an influence campaign originating from France that targeted a number of countries in Africa, external.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
In a one line order, Kagan, who is assigned to review emergency requests originating from California, declined to disturb that ruling.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 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
I tried unsuccessfully to relax, but the electric current that seemed to be originating from somewhere in his body never slackened.
From "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer
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