incipient

American  

[in-sip-ee-uhnt] / ɪnˈsɪp i ənt /

adjective

1. beginning to exist or appear; in an initial stage.

   an incipient cold.

   Synonyms:

   developing, nascent, beginning

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incipient British  

/ ɪnˈsɪpɪənt /

adjective

1. just starting to be or happen; beginning

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Other Word Forms

• incipience noun
• incipiently adverb

Etymology

Origin of incipient

1580–90; < Latin incipient- (stem of incipiēns, present participle of incipere to take in hand, begin), equivalent to in- in- ² + -cipi- (combining form of capi- take) + -ent- -ent

Example Sentences

Netflix has reportedly reached out to the administration to explain—correctly—why treating it as an incipient subscription streaming monopolist is wrong in a world of YouTube, TikTok and countless ad-supported streaming competitors.

From The Wall Street Journal

"We kept seeing incipient problems which I thought were not being tackled properly, and indeed I thought the problems were getting worse," he told the House of Commons committee.

From BBC

But he stressed there were "incipient problems" not being tackled.

From BBC

His other features all arranged themselves, almost dutifully, around the incipient thought.

From Literature

He also signals, with chapters on highway-building, housing and incipient suburbanization, new forces that would radically reshape both the cityscape and patterns of living.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• embryonic
• nascent