initiative
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See also: Initiative
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From French initiative, from Medieval Latin *initiativus (“serving to initiate”), from Late Latin initiare (“to begin, Latin initiate”), from Latin initium (“beginning”), from ineo (“enter, begin”).
Pronunciation
[edit]Adjective
[edit]initiative (not comparable)
- (archaic) Serving to initiate.
- Synonyms: inceptive, initiatory, introductory, preliminary
- 1632, Roger Puttock, A Rejoynder unto William Malone’s Reply to the First Article[1], Dublin: The Company of Stationers, page 78:
- 1795, Helen Maria Williams, Letters Containing a Sketch of the Politics of France[2], London: G.G. and J. Robinson, Volume 1, Letter 1, p. 5:
- suspected! that indefinite word, which was tortured into every meaning of injustice and oppression, and became what the French call the mot de ralliement, the initiative term of captivity and death
- 1844, Charles Dickens, chapter 39, in Martin Chuzzlewit[3], London: Chapman and Hall, page 461:
- The success of that initiative dish: that first experiment of hers in cookery: was so entire, so unalloyed and perfect, that John Westlock and Tom agreed she must have been studying the art in secret for a long time past;
- (US) In which voter initiatives can be brought to the ballot.
- Antonym: noninitiative
- a. 2008, John G. Matsusaka, "Direct Democracy and the Executive Branch", in, 2008, Shaun Bowler and Amihai Glazer, editors, Direct Democracy's Impact on American Political Institutions, Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, page 122 [4]:
- The second row shows that initiative states fill more constitutional offices by election than noninitiative states, and the difference is statistically significant after controlling for region and population.
Translations
[edit]serving to initiate
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Noun
[edit]initiative (countable and uncountable, plural initiatives)
- A beginning; a first move.
- A new development; a fresh approach to something; a new way of dealing with a problem.
- The ability to act first or on one's own.
- (politics) An issue to be voted on, brought to the ballot by a sufficient number of signatures from among the voting public.
- Hyponym: direct initiative
Derived terms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]a beginning; a first move
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a new development; a fresh approach to something; a new way of dealing with a problem
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the ability to act first or on one's own
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issue to be voted on
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Further reading
[edit]- “initiative”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “initiative”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “initiative”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
French
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Medieval Latin *initiativus (“serving to initiate”), from Late Latin initiare (“to begin, Latin initiate”), from Latin initium (“beginning”), from ineo (“enter, begin”).
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]initiative f (plural initiatives)
- initiative
- prendre l’initiative ― to take the initiative
- faire preuve d’initiative ― to show initiative
Derived terms
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- “initiative”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
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