See ab initio in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
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"5": "from"
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"expansion": "Latin ab (“from”)",
"name": "bor"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From Latin ab (“from”) + initiō, ablative singular of initium (“beginning”).",
"forms": [
{
"form": "ab init",
"tags": [
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]
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"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "adv",
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132
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"text": "As the Act was passed without the required quorum, the constitutional court struck down the Act and declared it to be void ab initio",
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135,
144
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"ref": "2007, Parliament of India, “Section 14”, in Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, page 4:",
"text": "Any child marriage solemnised in contravention of an injunction order issued under section 13, whether interim or final, shall be void ab initio.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"From the time when a law, legal right or decree, contract, ownership interest, partnership (etc.) comes into force."
],
"id": "en-ab_initio-en-adv-JlB7mGcf",
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"raw_glosses": [
"(law) From the time when a law, legal right or decree, contract, ownership interest, partnership (etc.) comes into force."
],
"topics": [
"law"
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "77 11 12",
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "referring to the time from when a legal document comes into force",
"word": "ab initio"
},
{
"_dis1": "77 11 12",
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "referring to the time from when a legal document comes into force",
"word": "vanaf het begin"
},
{
"_dis1": "77 11 12",
"code": "hi",
"lang": "Hindi",
"roman": "āditaḥ",
"sense": "referring to the time from when a legal document comes into force",
"word": "आदितः"
},
{
"_dis1": "77 11 12",
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "s vozniknovénija",
"sense": "referring to the time from when a legal document comes into force",
"word": "с возникнове́ния"
},
{
"_dis1": "77 11 12",
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "ot načála",
"sense": "referring to the time from when a legal document comes into force",
"word": "от нача́ла"
},
{
"_dis1": "77 11 12",
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "referring to the time from when a legal document comes into force",
"word": "ab initio"
},
{
"_dis1": "77 11 12",
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "referring to the time from when a legal document comes into force",
"word": "desde el principio"
}
]
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"examples": [
{
"ref": "1983, Monty Python, The meaning of life, at about 1h 15'",
"text": "[…] this soul does not exist ab initio, as orthodox Christianity teaches; it has to be brought into existence by a process of guided self-observation. However, this is rarely achieved, owing to man's unique ability to be distracted from spiritual matters by everyday trivia."
}
],
"glosses": [
"Calculated from first principles, i.e. from basic laws without any further additional assumptions."
],
"id": "en-ab_initio-en-adv-IhpiOExO",
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"(sciences) Calculated from first principles, i.e. from basic laws without any further additional assumptions."
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"sciences"
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"glosses": [
"Taken with no prior qualifications."
],
"id": "en-ab_initio-en-adv-kJZdk~8x",
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"(of an academic course) Taken with no prior qualifications."
],
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"of an academic course"
]
}
],
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{
"ipa": "/ˌæb ɪˈnɪʃ.i.oʊ/",
"tags": [
"US"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/ˌæb əˈnɪt.i.oʊ/",
"tags": [
"US"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/ˌɑb əˈnɪt.i.oʊ/",
"tags": [
"US"
]
}
],
"word": "ab initio"
}
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}
],
"etymology_text": "From Latin ab (“from”) + initiō, ablative singular of initium (“beginning”).",
"forms": [
{
"form": "ab init",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
}
],
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"text": "As the Act was passed without the required quorum, the constitutional court struck down the Act and declared it to be void ab initio",
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},
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135,
144
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],
"ref": "2007, Parliament of India, “Section 14”, in Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, page 4:",
"text": "Any child marriage solemnised in contravention of an injunction order issued under section 13, whether interim or final, shall be void ab initio.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"From the time when a law, legal right or decree, contract, ownership interest, partnership (etc.) comes into force."
],
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[
"The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles",
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],
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],
"raw_glosses": [
"(law) From the time when a law, legal right or decree, contract, ownership interest, partnership (etc.) comes into force."
],
"topics": [
"law"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"en:Sciences"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1983, Monty Python, The meaning of life, at about 1h 15'",
"text": "[…] this soul does not exist ab initio, as orthodox Christianity teaches; it has to be brought into existence by a process of guided self-observation. However, this is rarely achieved, owing to man's unique ability to be distracted from spiritual matters by everyday trivia."
}
],
"glosses": [
"Calculated from first principles, i.e. from basic laws without any further additional assumptions."
],
"links": [
[
"sciences",
"sciences"
]
],
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"(sciences) Calculated from first principles, i.e. from basic laws without any further additional assumptions."
],
"topics": [
"sciences"
]
},
{
"glosses": [
"Taken with no prior qualifications."
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(of an academic course) Taken with no prior qualifications."
],
"raw_tags": [
"of an academic course"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˌæb ɪˈnɪʃ.i.oʊ/",
"tags": [
"US"
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},
{
"ipa": "/ˌæb əˈnɪt.i.oʊ/",
"tags": [
"US"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/ˌɑb əˈnɪt.i.oʊ/",
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],
"translations": [
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "referring to the time from when a legal document comes into force",
"word": "ab initio"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "referring to the time from when a legal document comes into force",
"word": "vanaf het begin"
},
{
"code": "hi",
"lang": "Hindi",
"roman": "āditaḥ",
"sense": "referring to the time from when a legal document comes into force",
"word": "आदितः"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "s vozniknovénija",
"sense": "referring to the time from when a legal document comes into force",
"word": "с возникнове́ния"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "ot načála",
"sense": "referring to the time from when a legal document comes into force",
"word": "от нача́ла"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "referring to the time from when a legal document comes into force",
"word": "ab initio"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "referring to the time from when a legal document comes into force",
"word": "desde el principio"
}
],
"word": "ab initio"
}
Download raw JSONL data for ab initio meaning in English (4.2kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-08-07 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-08-02 using wiktextract (8b3c49c and 3c020d2). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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