initial

Academic Word List, sublist 3.

About 62.73 uses per million words.

Meaning

1. adjective Chronologically first, early; of or pertaining to the beginning, cause or origin.

   Our initial admiration for their efficiency gave way to disgust about their methods.

2. adjective Spatially first, placed at the beginning, in the first position; especially said of the first letter of a word.

   The initial letter of names is usually printed with a capital letter.

3. noun The first letter of a word or a name, especially of a person's full name (their initials).
4. noun A distinguished initial letter of a chapter or section of a document.
5. noun onset, part of a syllable that precedes the syllable nucleus in phonetics and phonology.
6. verb To sign one's initial(s), as an abbreviated signature.

   Please initial each page and sign the contract in full at the bottom.

Similar words

first primary original originally elementary main prime principle prima basic

Often followed by

conditions and state stages value stage phase period position condition

Word family

initialed initialing initialled initialling initially initialness initialnesses initials