nascent

[nas-uhnt, ney-suhnt]

adjective

1. beginning to exist or develop.

   That nascent republic is holding its first election this month.

2. Chemistry.,  (of an element) in the nascent state.

nascent

/ ˈneɪ-, ˈnæsənt /

adjective

1. starting to grow or develop; being born

2. chem (of an element or simple compound, esp hydrogen) created within the reaction medium in the atomic form and having a high activity

Other Word Forms

• nascence noun
• nascency noun
• unnascent adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of nascent¹

First recorded in 1615–25; from Latin nāscent-, stem of nāscēns “being born,” present participle of nāscī “to be born, arise”

Word History and Origins

Origin of nascent¹

C17: from Latin nascēns present participle of nāscī to be born

Example Sentences

AMD’s nascent challenge to Nvidia’s dominant position in AI chipmaking stalled earlier this month when its third-quarter earnings report included an outlook for profit margins that failed to impress Wall Street.

Read more on Barron's

The schisms underscore the growing fragility of the nascent coalition in the waning days of its founder.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Still, she said, the case revealed "a series of statements by Zuckerberg at the time of those acquisitions that looked like a desire to squelch a nascent threat to Facebook's dominance".

Read more on BBC

U.S. businessmen came to the country to make a fortune on the selloff of state assets, while Western politicians lectured a nascent Russia about human rights and democracy.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

As an MIT computer-science professor, Regina Barzilay was used to living on the bleeding edge of innovation, teaching computers to understand words in the nascent field of natural language processing.

Read more on MarketWatch

Related Words

• burgeoning 
• fledgling 
• growing 
• incipient 
• promising