"initial" meaning in English

See initial in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /ɪˈnɪʃəl/ [US] Audio: en-us-initial.ogg [US] Forms: initial [positive], [comparative], [superlative]
Head templates: {{adj}} [POS TABLE]
  1. (usually before the noun) The initial period, stages, etc. come near the beginning.
    Sense id: simple-initial-en-adj-X8U7nP6c

Noun

IPA: /ɪˈnɪʃəl/ [US] Audio: en-us-initial.ogg [US] Forms: initial [singular], initials [plural]
Head templates: {{noun}} [POS TABLE]
  1. An initial is the first letter of a name.
    Sense id: simple-initial-en-noun-4BKsSeyt

Verb

IPA: /ɪˈnɪʃəl/ [US] Audio: en-us-initial.ogg [US] Forms: initialed [past], initialed [past, participle], initialing [present, participle], initial [canonical], initials [third-person, singular], initialled [past], initialled [past, participle], initialling [present, participle]
Head templates: {{verb}} [POS TABLE], {{verb|initial|l}} [POS TABLE]
  1. If you initial something, you write the first letter of each of your names on it (or sometimes just your first and last name), usually to show approval.
    Sense id: simple-initial-en-verb-JXEEGF3i
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "initial",
      "tags": [
        "positive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "–",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "–",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "They send most workers to the US after an initial training period of three months."
        },
        {
          "text": "With these cars, the initial cost is high, but you save money in the long run."
        },
        {
          "text": "My initial reaction when I saw the bear was to run and hide."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "(usually before the noun) The initial period, stages, etc. come near the beginning."
      ],
      "id": "simple-initial-en-adj-X8U7nP6c"
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ɪˈnɪʃəl/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-initial.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "initial"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "initial",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "initials",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He found a bag with the initials D.B.R."
        },
        {
          "text": "His name is Daniel Jr., His initial is D.J."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An initial is the first letter of a name."
      ],
      "id": "simple-initial-en-noun-4BKsSeyt",
      "raw_tags": [
        "countable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ɪˈnɪʃəl/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-initial.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "initial"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "initialed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "initialed",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "initialing",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "initial",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "initials",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "initialled",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "initialled",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "initialling",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "initial",
        "2": "l"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Can you initial this form here, please?"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If you initial something, you write the first letter of each of your names on it (or sometimes just your first and last name), usually to show approval."
      ],
      "id": "simple-initial-en-verb-JXEEGF3i"
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ɪˈnɪʃəl/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-initial.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "initial"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "initial",
      "tags": [
        "positive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "–",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "–",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "They send most workers to the US after an initial training period of three months."
        },
        {
          "text": "With these cars, the initial cost is high, but you save money in the long run."
        },
        {
          "text": "My initial reaction when I saw the bear was to run and hide."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "(usually before the noun) The initial period, stages, etc. come near the beginning."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ɪˈnɪʃəl/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-initial.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "initial"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "initial",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "initials",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Countable nouns"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He found a bag with the initials D.B.R."
        },
        {
          "text": "His name is Daniel Jr., His initial is D.J."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An initial is the first letter of a name."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "countable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ɪˈnɪʃəl/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-initial.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "initial"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "initialed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "initialed",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "initialing",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "initial",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "initials",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "initialled",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "initialled",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "initialling",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "initial",
        "2": "l"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Can you initial this form here, please?"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If you initial something, you write the first letter of each of your names on it (or sometimes just your first and last name), usually to show approval."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ɪˈnɪʃəl/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-initial.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "initial"
}

Download raw JSONL data for initial meaning in English (2.4kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-02-06 from the simplewiktionary dump dated 2025-02-02 using wiktextract (0ee4b87 and 9dbd323). 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.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.