Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Beginning to exist or appear.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In Hebrew grammar, noting the verbal tense or form with prefixed servile letters, otherwise called future, present, and imperfect.
  • Beginning; commencing; entering on existence or appearance.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Beginning to be, or to show itself; commencing; initial

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective beginning, starting, coming into existence.
  • noun countable, obsolete beginner
  • noun uncountable, grammar A verb tense of the Hebrew language.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective only partly in existence; imperfectly formed

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin incipiēns, incipient-, present participle of incipere, to begin; see inception.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin incipiēns, present participle of incipiō ("begin").

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Examples

  • Over the period of time, there was a gap in terms of the number of forces that should have been on the ground and what I call the incipient growth of this insurgency.

    CNN Transcript Dec 4, 2005 2005

  • The hope, he felt, lay in incipient black militancy, in latent white decency, and, above all, in education.

    A Man From Mars 1997

  • To say "Margaret Thatcher" is to see every past president's eye light up, and the vocal chords quiver in incipient introduction.

    Past Presidents' Dinner 1984

  • "Dare take unto herself the glory of what she calls my incipient cure?

    The Brentons Anna Chapin Ray 1905

  • And it is essential to discover the existence of the disease at its beginning, what is called the incipient stage, in order to have the best chance of recovery.

    The Home Medical Library, Volume II (of VI) Kenelm Winslow

  • Again, it may be asked, how is it that varieties, which I have called incipient species, become ultimately converted into good and distinct species which in most cases obviously differ from each other far more than do the varieties of the same species?

    III. Struggle for Existence. The Bearing of Struggle for Existence on Natural Selection 1909

  • And the idea of incipient insanity in young Horne grew stronger than ever in Mr. Wedmore's mind.

    The Wharf by the Docks A Novel Florence Warden 1893

  • If now a region thus underlaid by what we may call incipient lavas is subjected to the peculiar compressive actions which lead to mountain-building, we should naturally expect that such soft material would be poured forth, possibly in vast quantities through fault fissures, which are so readily formed in all kinds of rock when subject to irregular and powerful strains, such as are necessarily brought about when rocks are moved in mountain-making.

    Outlines of the Earth's History A Popular Study in Physiography Nathaniel Southgate Shaler 1873

  • In the other part of the area, however, where hybridism occurs with perfect freedom, hybrids of various degrees may increase till they equal or even exceed in number the pure species -- that is, the incipient species will be liable to be swamped by intercrossing.

    Darwinism (1889) Alfred Russel Wallace 1868

  • Again, it may be asked, how is it that varieties, which I have called incipient species, become ultimately converted into good and distinct species, which in most cases obviously differ from each other far more than do the varieties of the same species?

    Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 11 Charles Dudley Warner 1864

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