initiative

1. 1.

   serving to set in motion

   “the magazine's inaugural issue”

   “the initiative phase in the negotiations”

   “an initiatory step toward a treaty”

   “his first (or maiden) speech in Congress”

   “the liner's maiden voyage”

   Synonymsinauguralinitiatoryfirstmaiden

   Similaropening

Other forms of initiative

plural

initiatives·

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.

Questions about initiative

What does initiative mean?

initiative means "readiness to embark on bold new ventures". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in initiative?

initiative has 4 syllables: in-it-ia-tive. The stress falls on "it". In IPA it is /ˌɪˈnɪʃətɪv/.

What is another word for initiative?

Close synonyms include enterprise, enterprisingness, go-ahead, first step, opening move. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is initiative a common word?

initiative is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.