novitiate
or no·vi·ci·ate
[noh-vish-ee-it, -eyt]
noun
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.
RELATED WORDS
amateur, learner, fish, novice, recruit, neophyte, initiate, newcomer, abecedarian, student, trainee, freshman, fledgling, tenderfoot, greenhorn, tyro, colt, starter, apprentice, probationer
Origin of novitiate
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for novitiate
Historical Examples of novitiate
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
noun
Word Origin for novitiate
C17: from French noviciat, from Latin novīcius novice
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
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper