incipient

[ in-sip-ee-uhnt ]

adjective

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

   an incipient cold.

   Synonyms: developing, nascent, beginning

incipient

/ ɪnˈsɪpɪənt /

adjective

1. just starting to be or happen; beginning

Derived Forms

• inˈcipience, noun
• inˈcipiently, adverb

Other Words From

• in·cipi·ent·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of incipient¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of incipient¹

C17: from Latin incipiēns, from incipere to begin, take in hand, from in- ² + capere to take

Example Sentences

A low-pressure system — perhaps our incipient season’s first nor’easter — may move up the coast this weekend.

From Washington Post

As society progresses toward the Metaverse, companies and platforms in this incipient virtual world are taking steps to ensure that it reflects the diversity of the real world.

From Digiday

In contrast, if your thinking is a little cloudy thanks to incipient HACE, that may not seem like such a big problem—and your ability to recognize the problem is compromised by the cloudiness of your thinking.

From Outside Online

Both companies wanted him to apply the tools of sociology to address things like hate speech and bullying, maybe any incipient plans for an insurrection.

From Freakonomics

But his incipient campaign was scuttled, and he soon separated from his fourth wife.

From The Daily Beast

Similarly, much of the policy rhetoric coming from Washington focuses on fears of incipient inflation that have yet to pan out.

From The Daily Beast

At a dinner with journalists, hedge-fund manager George Soros spoke of an “incipient war in currencies.”

From The Daily Beast

He was a prime mover behind the Saudi military intervention in Bahrain a year ago to smash an incipient Shia reform movement.

From The Daily Beast

He takes on multiple projects, but he will prevent incipient confusion if he stops multitasking and completes one thing at a time.

From The Daily Beast

Whether he had shot a man, or robbed a bank, or fired a church, the incipient accusation died away.

From Project Gutenberg

And this failure to get hold of the incipient case applies to all the various kinds of adverse influences that cause destitution.

From Project Gutenberg

Another arrived with a fine mat, a man of higher rank, whose incipient consumption had often troubled the Master.

From Project Gutenberg

Spirits of turpentine rubbed in around the base of the horns, will arrest the disease in its incipient stages.

From Project Gutenberg

It was as if some spirit that had breathed on him, sustaining him, lightening his incipient heaviness, had been removed.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• embryonic
• nascent