initiative

Questions about initiative

What is another word for initiative?

It depends which initiative you mean. In the sense “readiness to embark on bold new ventures”, the synonyms are enterprise, enterprisingness, go-ahead. Across all 3 senses there are 10 distinct synonyms, and they are not interchangeable with each other — this page lists them under the sense each one belongs to.

What is the opposite of initiative?

WordNet records no antonym for initiative. Antonymy in WordNet is a relation between specific word forms rather than between concepts, so it is recorded only where lexicographers judged the pairing direct. An absence here means none was recorded, not that none can be imagined.

Why are the synonyms for initiative split into groups?

Because initiative carries 3 recorded senses and each has its own set of substitutes. A single flat list would put words from unrelated meanings side by side with nothing to tell them apart, which is exactly how a writer picks the wrong one. The grouping comes from WordNet's synsets, not from an editorial judgement of ours.

Where do the synonyms for initiative come from?

From Princeton University's WordNet, a lexical database maintained by lexicographers since 1985. A synonym here means a word form that shares a synset with this word — a set of forms interchangeable in one recorded context. Nothing on this page is generated by a language model.

Other views of initiative

• Full entry for initiativeAll 3 senses, with examples, usage labels, syllables and pronunciation.
• Rhymes for initiativeWords matching from the last stressed vowel onward, grouped by syllable count.
• Thesaurus homeHow WordNet synsets work, and the collections built for synonym work.