incipient
Americanadjective
adjective
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
Explanation
Incipient means something is in an early stage of existence. In its incipient form, basketball was played with a soccer ball and peach baskets for goals. Bouncy orange balls and nets came later. Incipient comes from the Latin incipere "to begin." The related, and more commonly used, word inception means the beginning or the start. It is important to note that when something is in an incipient stage, there is a chance it will never come to completion. So be on the lookout for incipient trouble or an incipient crisis — you might be able to prevent it from happening.
Vocabulary lists containing incipient
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Letter Cresset External link April 16: Recent troubling private-credit headlines prompted market Cassandras to proclaim an incipient credit crisis.
From Barron's • Apr. 17, 2026
Can they crush another incipient rebellion without igniting larger demonstrations?
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 8, 2026
"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 • Nov. 24, 2025
“Erasing” De Kooning would get the incipient powerhouse out of the way, artistically speaking.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 22, 2025
Matter blown outward from the Sun’s atmosphere, the solar wind, carries fragments of dust and ice back behind the comet, making an incipient tail.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
