say it: in-ish-ee-AY-shuhn
initiation is a noun meaning "a formal entry into an organization or position or office". It carries 4 recorded senses.
a formal entry into an organization or position or office
“his initiation into the club”
“he was ordered to report for induction into the army”
“he gave a speech as part of his installation into the hall of fame”
the act of starting something for the first time; introducing something new
“she looked forward to her initiation as an adult”
“the foundation of a new scientific society”
wisdom as evidenced by the possession of knowledge
“his knowledgeability impressed me”
“his dullness was due to lack of initiation”
an act that sets in motion some course of events
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for initiation come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.