initial1 adjectiveinitial2 nouninitial3 verb
initiali‧ni‧tial1 /ɪˈnɪʃəl/ ●●○ S3 W2 AWL adjective [only before noun] 
WORD ORIGINinitial1
Origin:
1500-1600 Latin initialis, from initium ‘beginning’, from inire ‘to go in’, from ire ‘to go’EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- Initial difficulties with the computer system were soon fixed.
- Initial sales figures have been very good.
- After initial delays, construction on the new library is due to start in two weeks.
- After the initial shock, people adjusted to the new circumstances.
- Classes in gun handling are recommended as the initial step for those who want to own a handgun.
- I was only involved in the initial stages of the planning.
- My initial reaction was one of complete disbelief.
- Simon's initial feeling when he heard about the wedding was surprise.
- The initial cost of the computer system is more than made up for in terms of eventual profit.
- the initial stages of the disease
- A stride from an adjacent boulder gains the initial crack.
- It often happens that the initial choice of weights is poor, and the program should learn improved weights.
- Seed Money School-to-work initiatives can not get started without an initial infusion of flexible seed money.
- So SunTran canceled its initial call for bids and issued a second one, to which three companies eventually responded.
- The training set consists of a variety of initial positions of the truck.
- There are no initial charges, only an annual management fee of 1%.
- We focused on those three initial regional managers then polled some of the neighboring ones.
Longman Language Activatordone or happening at the beginning
: initial feelings/costs/reaction etc feelings, costs etc that exist or are experienced at the beginning of an event or process: · Simon's initial feeling when he heard about the wedding was surprise.· After initial delays, construction on the new library is due to start in two weeks.· The initial cost of the computer system is more than made up for in terms of eventual profit.
close to the beginning of an event, story, period of time etc: · I'll be seeing him early next week.early in the game/story/century etc: · Rangers scored early in the game but fell behind within ten minutes.
happening at the beginning of a process or event, especially in order to prepare for the rest of it: · The architect's plans are still in the preliminary stages.· Preliminary market research has shown that most Americans prefer environmentally-friendly products.
: introductory remark/paragraph/chapter etc something someone says or writes at the beginning of a book, speech etc to explain what it is about: · Williams cleared his throat, made a few introductory remarks welcoming everyone, then began his speech.· The text has been revised and a new introductory essay has been added for the second edition.
said or written at the beginning of a speech, book, play etc: · In the opening chapter, Ramona sits at the breakfast table thinking about the first day of school.· The audience strongly objected to the opening remarks of the president's speech.· Hilary makes a brief appearance in the opening scene, but doesn't have a major part.
happening, existing, done etc first before everyone or everything else: · Laurie's name was first on the list.· I still remember my first day of school.· She had her first baby in 1998.· I've only read the first chapter, but it seems like a really good book.· The first thing I ever had published was an article for the Boy Scout magazine.
before you do any other things, or before anything else happens: · I always read the sports page of the newspaper first.· Shall we go out now, or do you want to eat first?· I'll help you with your homework, but first let me finish the dishes.
at the beginning, before other events or actions - use this especially to say what you should do or what you did do first: · First of all, fry the onions.· First of all, let me welcome everyone to the meeting.· First of all I went to tell my wife and then my daughter and son-in-law what had happened.
use this about something that existed at the beginning, especially before a lot of things were changed: · The house still has its original stone floors.· Our original plan was to go camping, but it was pouring with rain.
use this to talk about what happened at the beginning of a process or activity or what someone felt at the beginning, especially when this changes later: initial response/reaction/feeling etc: · My initial reaction was one of complete disbelief.· After the initial shock, people adjusted to the new circumstances.initial difficulties/problems/setbacks etc: · Initial difficulties with the computer system were soon fixed.initial stage/trial/step etc: · I was only involved in the initial stages of the planning.· Classes in gun handling are recommended as the initial step for those who want to own a handgun.
happening or existing before all others: · "The Comedy of Errors" is one of Shakespeare's earliest plays.· The earliest form of transport was probably some kind of sledge.· Ginger was one of the earliest oriental spices known to Europeans.
use this to say that something happens that has never happened before: the first time (that): · The first time I went on a plane I was really nervous.· It was the first time that she had seen her mother cry.for the first time: · For the first time, representatives from the two countries will talk at a conference table.
something that is unprecedented has never happened before and is usually unexpected: · An unprecedented number of cars entered the race.· The police took the unprecedented step of publishing the victim's photograph.· The depression that started in mid-1929 was a catastrophe of unprecedented dimensions for the United States.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY
the initial stages of the diseaseCOLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
happening at the beginning SYN first: the initial stages of the disease (=that you hope to achieve quickly)· The immediate aim is to develop the travel business.
(=happening at the beginning, but not lasting)· After a few months, their initial enthusiasm had started to wane.
· The inland revenue began a preliminary examination of his tax returns in August.
· My first impression was that Terry’s version of the events was untrue.
· Her first impulse was to turn and walk away.
· His first instinct was to try and hide.
· The offer was in the final stages of negotiation.
(=optimism that you feel at the start of a process, especially when it does not continue)· There was initial optimism about a breakthrough in relations between the two countries.
· His first reaction was to laugh.
· Despite some initial reluctance, they approved the plan.
(=happening quite soon)· The policy has been successful, despite some early setbacks.
· Sometimes there are problems in the early stages of a project.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSNOUN· Churches To make initial contact with the education sectors of the main churches.· What did their initial contacts suggest for the future?· This is a very valuable method of following up the initial contact and we hope you will agree that this may continue.· We should offer to make the initial contact if the client does not wish to handle this himself.· Sabine makes the initial contact in a correspondence that flowers into an exchange of life stories and, eventually, hearts.
· The costs of gathering the initial data are relatively small in relation to the costs of the research itself.· This may lead one to think that simplicity should not be considered as just paucity of initial data.· This is not at all the way that initial data are to be specified in a standard deterministic physical problem.· The aim was to ensure that the information used in the creation of the initial data base was both accurate and complete.· This arises from the fact that the accuracy with which the initial data can be known is always limited.· However, the techniques are still difficult to use in practice for arbitrary initial data.· As soon as this task had been completed a similar procedure to that of setting up the initial data base was adopted.
· This means that the environment is often very important to the forming of an initial impression.· The evaluators' initial impression was of a school with a fairly traditional outlook but one in which facilities were enviable.· After initial impressions, Bodnar climbed on to some concrete slabs and stood back to inspect the first fruits of his design skills.· Despite the 12:1 contrast ratio claimed for the screen, my initial impression was that it was poor.· Lack of urgency is the initial impression.· His Lordship's initial impression was that the case fitted more readily into a contractual than a proprietary slot.· Certainly my initial impression was that the older boys in particular were resisting the task I'd set them.
· In other words, it is the rate that equates future net cash flows to the initial investment outlay.· It sold parts of the business to the public months later, tripling its initial investment.· Consequently, the subsequent discussion will focus on different analyses which may be pursued before or after the initial investment.· In addition, competition may mean that we are unable to recoup our initial investment even if we win the contract.· The initial investment can be of any size.· The initial investment is for ten years.· People who took up a similar offer about four years ago are making up to five times their initial investment.· The initial investment is recorded at cost and dividends are recorded as income when received.
· Drop cap a large initial letter at the start of the text that drops into the line or lines of text below.· Acronyms are words formed from the initial letter or letters of successive parts of a compound term.· There would be twenty-nine days between the initial letter from County Hall and any action.· On this principle write all initial letters together on the day you receive instructions, or at the latest the following day.· The initial letters spell the word H-O-W and serve as a reminder of how recovery is achieved through all one's relationships.· Local authorities were upset because the initial letters of the phrase were highlighted, spelling an obscene word.· As we explained in our initial letter, we have been instructed to conduct the sale by means of a strict auction process.· The method recommended by Rowntree is S Q 3R - the initial letters of the first steps to better reading.
· Either: As agreed at our initial meeting, we would need to inform your auditors of this appointment.· By the end of my initial meetings with Robbie, I summed up for myself his emotional development.· Other forms of communication may well be appropriate after an initial meeting.· The engagement letter need only be issued after, not before, an initial meeting where potential services are outlined.· It is necessary, therefore, to be well prepared for the initial meeting.· The physical aspects of the person seemed to be most important feature of the other person at initial meetings.· Specific issues can provide initial meeting places, and open up communication, but that communication must build institutional foundations.
· During this initial period it will be necessary to use whatever methods appear appropriate to deal with the patient's distress.· During the initial period, from summer 1994 to summer 1995, Madrid.· The initial period lasts for 20 working days.· If the tank is well-established, however, they will normally find enough microorganisms to keep them going during this initial period.· An initial period of identification is important to a repressed group that has never had adequate self-images.· The successful candidate will be based at Jealott's Hill but will spend an initial period at Leuven.· This concession will be granted for an initial period of five years with possible extension after that.· Ideally the purchaser would wish to have the vendor negotiate actively with the purchaser on an exclusive basis during an initial period.
· In each case, I believe that the initial phase of the exercise is similar.· They are known to counteract both the vasoconstriction and the enhanced platelet aggregation present in the initial phase of migraine.· During the initial phase, newly formed mast cell components such as histamine, serotonin, prostaglandins, and leukotrienes may be released.· The above described procedure attempts to match the initial phase of contemporary paper based bill of lading issuance.· The initial phase will concentrate on the monuments housed in the churches and subject them to dusting, washing and cleaning.· The initial phase of the wartime operational expert system was completed towards the end of 1987.
· Since no Pareto gain is possible, the initial position - competitive equilibrium in both markets - is Pareto-efficient.· First, they ensure that the initial position of competitive equilibrium is indeed an equilibrium.· We might then expect that final rather than initial position in the clause is where prominence can be achieved.· In the Hallidayan model, thematic choice is expressed by placing one of these elements in initial position in the clause.· This is the material description: we are following the particle Xi from its initial position to its deformed one.· However, latencies were faster for subordinate clauses when they occurred in sentence final position rather than sentence initial position.· It was also found that businesses with strong initial positions outperformed those with weak initial positions.
· From a distance of two weeks, the initial reaction to defeat also seems unnecessarily despondent.· My initial reaction was to punch some one....· As an initial reaction the girls' parents might have been shocked by what they got up to.· Accordingly, the initial reaction of the equity markets was utterly perverse.· My initial reaction had been a prime, although mild, example of ageism in operation.· The initial reaction of the community to the news of the dump was that it was only what could be expected.· My initial reaction is that this has to be good news.· My initial reaction was relief: We had averted another financial crisis.
· When they were first introduced they were an enormous boon to the farmer and the initial response was almost euphoric.· Robert Kennedy, however, continued to insist on a less belligerent initial response.· Twenty thousand copies were distributed around Birmingham, and Mr Wiseman says that the initial response has been extremely encouraging.· The initial responses from the government suggest that there may indeed be a reckoning ahead.· The initial response to this situation came in 1971.· Bush's initial response has been to lurch to the right.· If we look at the initial response to Maastricht, the omens are not wholly encouraging.· For some, the initial response is a mild fear reaction; it passes quickly.
· The initial shock is followed by grief.· He went into cardiac arrest and was brought back to life immediately after the initial shock.· There had been the natural initial shock of disbelief at hearing of the unexpected death of any person even casually known.· After the initial shock brought by his rather sudden decision had worn away Henry says, he felt mostly relief.· Having overcome her initial shock, Polly asked Jack to sit down.· After the initial shock, Daley felt cornered and harassed, and it soon showed in his reaction to questioning.· Would he ever get over this initial shock period?· Within a split second of the initial shock, bodies were running in all directions.
· But even that cannon had to go through an initial stage of trial and error.· In the initial stages, the researcher needs to understand the market, and the client's position and objectives within it.· The first two categories represent the initial stages of involvement in learning to be a nurse.· It really should be attractive in the initial stages.· Thus in the initial stages Elliott and Harris were flung on their own resources.· The man-hater is locked into the initial stage of separation, where repressed hurt and previously unarticulated anger are explored.· In the initial stages the puppy is likely to pull on the leash by trying to rush ahead.
· As a result of the instability and interactions, the pattern rapidly loses any detailed memory of its initial state.· The evolutionary course followed by a planet is set by its initial state.· And we realize that the initial state may itself have been determined by the laws of science.· The best documented measure of severity was a simple classification based on each patient's initial state of distress on presentation.· But how did he choose the initial state or configuration of the universe?· On the other hand, if the initial state is one of excess supply money-wages will fall at a rate.· This state would be less ordered, and hence have more entropy, than the initial state of two separate boxes.
· Perhaps his initial success shouldn't have been all that surprising for he comes of good rugby stock.· But restoration ecology is pointless if it merely leads to a relapse into high-risk behavior the moment it scores some initial success.· After initial successes, Cunningham's offensive had been outflanked by Rommel and brought to a standstill.· For such clients, setting intermediate goals increases the chances of initial success, which will keep their motivation up.· After some initial successes, the authorities cracked down on the protesters.· Charlie decided that, following this initial success, he should extend his delivery service to other customers in the East End.· Satisfaction, even glee at this initial success was, however, soon succeeded by doubts about what to do next.· But I owe its initial success to Eliot.
· Members of the Cadbury family did not escape this strict initial training.· However only about one in ten offered is selected for the rigorous 12 week-long initial training course.· For each of these components of primary education the investigator is concerned to improve the quality of initial training.· The package also includes initial training and 24 hour telephone support.· This initial training will often combine off-the-job courses with on-the-job guidance and support.· However, parameters for them for individual writers could be extracted from an initial training phase for a script recognition system.· Then a rigorous initial training period begins.· In either case, an individual's initial training period will be closely supervised as outlined below.
an initial investment of £5,000initial stage/phase/period the initial stages of the disease The initial response has been encouraging.initial1 adjectiveinitial2 nouninitial3 verb
initialinitial2 ●●○ noun [countable] 1the first letter of someone’s first name: ‘Can I have your initial, Mr Davies?’ ‘It’s G, Mr G Davies.’2initials [plural] the first letters of all your names in order: His initials are DPH: they stand for David Perry Hallworth.initial1 adjectiveinitial2 nouninitial3 verb
initialinitial3 verb (past tense and past participle initialled, present participle initialling British English, initialed, initialing American English) [transitive] to write your initials on a document to make it official or to show that you agree with something: The two countries have initialled a new defence co-operation agreement.