novitiate
or no·vi·ci·ate
[noh-vish-ee-it, -eyt]
- the state or period of being a novice of a religious order or congregation.
- the quarters occupied by religious novices during probation.
- the state or period of being a beginner in anything.
- a novice.
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Origin of novitiate
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for novitiate
Historical Examples
The novitiate has its great joys, but it has its great trials also.
The ChristianHall Caine
So she began her novitiate and was presently received into the order.
A Little Girl in Old DetroitAmanda Minnie Douglas
The air of assurance and dignity about it all was exceedingly noticeable to the novitiate.
Sister CarrieTheodore Dreiser
It may have been so; he was still in his novitiate of infamy.
The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, Vol. 2 (of 4)Thomas Babington Macaulay
We ourselves do not care to take pupils who have no idea at all of the novitiate.
The Master MummerE. Phillips Oppenheim
novitiate
noviciate
- the state of being a novice, esp in a religious order, or the period for which this lasts
- the part of a religious house where the novices live
- a less common word for novice
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Word Origin
C17: from French noviciat, from Latin novīcius novice
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for novitiate
n.
also noviciate, "state of being a novice," c.1600, from Middle French noviciat or directly from Medieval Latin novitiatus, from Late Latin novitius "novice," from Latin adjective novicius (see novice).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper