ab initio

[ahb i-nit-ee-oh; English ab i-nish-ee-oh]

adverb Latin.

from the beginning.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for ab initio

Historical Examples of ab initio

The response now obtained was vigorous and was ab-initio positive.
Life Movements in Plants, Volume II, 1919
Sir Jagadis Chunder Bose

British Dictionary definitions for ab initio

ab initio

from the start; from scratchab initio courses

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for ab initio

c.1600, Latin, literally "from the beginning," from oblique case of initium "entrance, beginning," related to verb inire "to go into, enter upon, begin" (see initial).