inceptive
Americanadjective
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beginning; initial.
- Synonyms:
- nascent, embryonic, inchoative
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Grammar. (of a derived verb, or of an aspect in verb inflection) expressing the beginning of the action indicated by the underlying verb, as Latin verbs in -scō, which generally have inceptive force, as calēscō “become or begin to be hot” from caleō “be hot.”
noun
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the inceptive aspect.
-
a verb in this aspect.
adjective
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beginning; incipient; initial
-
Also called: inchoative. grammar denoting an aspect of verbs in some languages used to indicate the beginning of an action
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of inceptive
From the Late Latin word inceptīvus, dating back to 1605–15. See incept, -ive
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.
Particularly in the playing of Miss Johns one seems to see the gathering nebula of an inceptive star.
From Time Magazine Archive
"One is at once impressed," admits Psychologist Seashore, "with the appalling task which this inceptive science has assumed for itself, and how undeveloped the work is within this field."
From Time Magazine Archive
They began an inceptive organization, the object of which was to bring together representatives of the people, who should form a government.
From The Great Speeches and Orations of Daniel Webster With an Essay on Daniel Webster as a Master of English Style by Daniel Webster
The development of wheeled vehicles from the first inceptive idea of the wheel to the present appreciable methods of its use was comprehensively illustrated.
From By Water to the Columbian Exposition by Johanna S. Wisthaler
Yet as soon as we give the “durative” notion of being red an inceptive or transitional turn, we can avoid the parallel form “it becomes red, it turns red” and say “it reddens.”
From Language An Introduction to the Study of Speech by Edward Sapir
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.
