INITIAL (initialled, initialling)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: initialled    , initialling   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does initial mean? 

• INITIAL (noun)
  The noun INITIAL has 1 sense:

1. the first letter of a word (especially a person's name)

  Familiarity information: INITIAL used as a noun is very rare.

• INITIAL (adjective)
  The adjective INITIAL has 1 sense:

1. occurring at the beginning

  Familiarity information: INITIAL used as an adjective is very rare.

• INITIAL (verb)
  The verb INITIAL has 1 sense:

1. mark with one's initials

  Familiarity information: INITIAL used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INITIAL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The first letter of a word (especially a person's name)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Context example:

he refused to put the initials FRS after his name

Hypernyms ("initial" is a kind of...):

alphabetic character; letter; letter of the alphabet (the conventional characters of the alphabet used to represent speech)

Derivation:

initial (mark with one's initials)

• INITIAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Occurring at the beginning

Context example:

took the initial step toward reconciliation

Similar:

first (preceding all others in time or space or degree)

• INITIAL (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they initial    ... he / she / it initials   
Past simple: initialed    / initialled   
Past participle: initialed    / initialled   
-ing form: initialing    / initialling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Mark with one's initials

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "initial" is one way to...):

sign (be engaged by a written agreement)

"Initial" entails doing...:

approve; O.K.; okay; sanction (give sanction to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

initial (the first letter of a word (especially a person's name))

 Context examples 

An initial measurement that is taken at an early time point to represent a beginning condition, and is used for comparison over time to look for changes.

(Baseline, NCI Dictionary)

An FDA form which is used and submitted with an initial IND submission and each subsequent submission to the IND.

(Application Form: FDA Form 1571, Food and Drug Administration)

The initial part of the pyloric canal of the stomach.

(Antrum Pylori, NCI Thesaurus)

While the sulfur in cysteine comes from homocysteine, the rest of the molecule comes from the initial serine residue.

(Biosynthesis of Cysteine Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

The value of the unit depends on the initial temperature of the water and varies in the range of approximately 1.054 - 1.060 joules.

(British Thermal Unit, NCI Thesaurus)

These enzymes appear to be involved in the initial signaling events, as well as the downstream proteolytic cleavages, that result in apoptotic cell death.

(Caspase, NCI Thesaurus)

The purpose of the NCI Transition Career Development Award (K22) is to provide protected time for newly independent investigators to develop and receive support for their initial cancer research programs.

(Career Transition Award, NCI Thesaurus)

A chemoimmunotherapy regimen consisting of capecitabine, oxaliplatin and bevacizumab used as an initial treatment for advanced-stage or metastatic colorectal cancer.

(CAPOX-Bevacizumab Regimen, NCI Thesaurus)

Any surgical procedure performed subsequent to a primary or initial surgical procedure.

(Additional Surgical Procedure, NCI Thesaurus)

Juno’s initial observations indicate that the process seems to work differently at Jupiter than at Earth.

(First Science Results from NASA’s Juno Mission, NASA)