Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Beginning; initial.
- adjective Grammar Of or being a verb or verbal form that designates the beginning of an action, state, or event, such as the Latin verb tumēscēre, “to begin to swell.”
from The Century Dictionary.
- In the state of inception or formation; incipient; rudimentary.
- Expressing or indicating beginning; inceptive: as, an inchoative verb (otherwise called
inceptive ). - noun That which begins, or that which expresses the beginning of, an action or state; specifically, in grammar, an inchoative verb.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Expressing or pertaining to a beginning; inceptive.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective At the
beginning , still in anunformed state. - adjective grammar
Aspectually indicating that an action is soon to begin. - adjective grammar Inflected in or relating to the inchoative aspect.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun aspect with regard to the beginning of the action of the verb
- adjective beginning to develop
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Our train on that first official journey to Washington proved to be a kind of inchoative "Congressional Limited."
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"inchoative" nature.a. Inchoative verbs from the roots of "intransitive verbs" indicate the "beginning" or "coming into existence" of the act or condition expressed in the root: sidigxi, to become sitting, to sit down, to take a seat. starigxi, to become standing, to stand up.
A Complete Grammar of Esperanto Ivy Kellerman Reed 1922
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Also, forms like *wóidh₂e 'I know' which never ever show reduplication in the later perfect hint at their original meaning and usage: 'I know' (stative) → 'I have come to know' (inchoative) → 'I have known/seen' (perfective past).
New thought: A 2D matrix of eventive/non-eventive and subjective/objective 2009
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Also, forms like *wóidh₂e 'I know' which never ever show reduplication in the later perfect hint at their original meaning and usage: 'I know' (stative) → 'I have come to know' (inchoative) → 'I have known/seen' (perfective past).
Archive 2009-09-01 2009
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The adjective can serve as the base for deriving two verb lexemes, the inchoative OPEN 'become open' and the causative OPEN 'cause to become open'.
Understanding Openness glyn moody 2008
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A textbook example: English has no causative DIE alongside inchoative DIE because it's pre-empted by causative KILL; in a sense, KILL got there first, so there's no point in creating causative DIE.
Understanding Openness glyn moody 2008
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Thinking less "transitive" and more aspectual, the use of *-mi would be because of its inchoative nature.
Thoughts on the early Indo-European subjunctive 1ps ending 2007
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The graces of the Holy Ghost are either more common and inchoative, or special and completing of the work of conversion.
The Doctrine of the Saints��� Perseverance Explained and Confirmed 1616-1683 1966
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Trinity present to the soul in a new manner: that is, as the object of direct, though inchoative, knowledge and as the object of experimental love.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 15: Tournely-Zwirner 1840-1916 1913
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Only in this way is justice done to the contrasted participle of state (_sedentes_) and inchoative perfect (_castrametati sunt_).
Prolegomena Julius Wellhausen 1881
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