Borrowed fromLatininchoātīvus, formed by metathesis fromincohātīvus, fromincohō(“to begin”). CompareFrenchinchoatif.
inchoative (notcomparable)
- Initial; as yetunformed;inchoate.
1648,Walter Montagu, “The One and Twentieth Treatise. Of the Preheminences of a True Contemplative Life. §. I. Contemplation Defined, and Some Excellencies thereof Discoursed.”, inMiscellanea Spiritualia: Or, Devout Essaies, London: […] W[illiam] Lee, D[aniel] Pakeman, and G[abriel] Bedell, […],→OCLC,page387:[T]he day-Star[…] ſhall be riſen in our hearts; vvhereof theſe acts of our intellect ſeem to be ſomeinchoative or imperfect rays,[…]
1858–1865,Thomas Carlyle,History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, CalledFrederick the Great, volume(please specify |volume=I to VI), London:Chapman and Hall, […],→OCLC:Our first Piece is of Winter, or late Autumn, 1771,—while the solution of the Polish Business is still in itsinchoative stages; …
- (grammar)Aspectually indicating that a state is about to be entered or is in the process of being entered.
1974, Floyd L. Moreland, Rita M. Fleischer,Latin: An Intensive Course, University of California Press, page12:Theinchoative (inceptive) aspect of a verb expresses the beginning of an action. Example: He is beginning to crawl.
grammar: aspectually indicating that an action is to begin
inchoative (pluralinchoatives)
- (grammar) An inchoative construction.
inchoative
- inflection ofinchoativ:
- strong/mixednominative/accusativefemininesingular
- strongnominative/accusativeplural
- weaknominative all-gendersingular
- weakaccusativefeminine/neutersingular
inchoative aspect on Wikipedia.Wikipedia