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
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.
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 • Dec. 2, 2025
“Doctor Strangelove,” “Catch-22,” and “M*A*S*H” collide in British journalist Phoebe Greenwood’s blistering debut novel, “Vulture,” a darkly comic, searing satire grounded in historic politics, suffused with incipient journalism and imbued with self-aggrandizement.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 7, 2025
In 2018, as Adams begins to plan for his incipient mayoral campaign, a Turkish promoter reaches out to an Adams staffer with a straw-donor strategy.
From Slate • Sep. 26, 2024
“There are toxic cleavages and an incipient social fragmentation that can easily turn into instability.”
From BBC • Jun. 19, 2024
I look at our hands, her smooth one, the nails pale moons, mine with its uttered cuticles, its skin of incipient toad.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
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.
