initiativen.
/ɪˈnɪʃətɪv/, U.S. /ᵻˈnɪʃədɪv/ 1.
a. That which initiates, begins, or originates; the first step in some process or enterprise; hence the act, or action, of initiating or taking the first step or lead; beginning, commencement, origination. on one's own initiative, by one's own origination.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > causation > initiating or causing to begin > [noun] > a beginning or first step
induction1597
instep1621
initiative1793
ice-breaking1804
baby step1825
1793 W. Godwin Enq. Polit. Justice iv. viii. 351 A sensation of pain was the initiative, and put my intellectual powers into action.
1809–10 S. T. Coleridge Friend (1837) III. 118 From the absence of the leading thought, which, borrowing a phrase from the nomenclature of legislation, I may not inaptly call the initiative.
1818 S. T. Coleridge Gen. Introd. or Treat. on Method 10 in Encycl. Metrop. I There are many marked differences between mathematical and physical studies: but in both a previous act and conception of the mind, or what we have called an initiative, is indispensably necessary, even to the mere semblance of Method.
1858 J. H. Newman Hist. Sketches (1873) III. iii. iv. 324 Theodoret's visits to Antioch..were not made on his own initiative.
1882 F. W. Farrar Early Days Christianity II. 505 Men who had followed the noble initiative of St. Paul, and who refused to receive anything from the Gentiles to whom they preached.
b. to take the initiative (French prendre l'initiative, 1567 in Hatzfeld & Darmesteter): to take the lead, make the first step, originate some action.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > causation > initiating or causing to begin > initiate [verb (intransitive)]
initiate1725
to set (or start) the ball rolling1770
to take the initiative1856
to throw off1866
tee1961
1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits vi. 108 He has stamina; he can take the initiative in emergencies.
1858 H. T. Buckle Hist. Civilisation Eng. (1873) II. viii. 570 No reform can produce real good, unless it is the work of public opinion, and unless the people themselves take the initiative.
2.
a. The power, right, or function of initiating or originating something. Hence to possess or have the initiative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > causation > initiating or causing to begin > [noun] > initiative or power of initiating
initiative1793
1793 W. Godwin Enq. Polit. Justice i. vii. 53 Sensation is of some moment in the affair. It possesses the initiative.
1793 W. Godwin Enq. Polit. Justice v. xx. 544 The legislative assembly, whether it possesses the initiative, or a power of control only, in executive affairs.
1802 Morning Chron. in Spirit of Public Jrnls. (1803) VI. 302 If..Mr. Henry Addington is to have the initiative in the Docks.
1842 W. T. Brande Dict. Sci., Lit. & Art 599/2 That branch of the legislature to which belongs of right the power to propose measures of a particular class is said to have the initiative with respect to those measures.
1844 C. J. Lever Tom Burke II. lv. 47 The initiative lay with you.
b. spec., Politics. The right of a citizen or defined number of citizens, outside the Legislature, to originate legislation, as has been established in some of the Swiss Cantons since 1869–70, and in Switzerland as a Federal Republic since 1874.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > legislation > [noun] > power of > as right of citizen(s)
initiative1889
1889 F. O. Adams & C. D. Cunningham Swiss Confederation vi. 80 Both Referendum and Initiative are institutions which have grown up gradually in the Cantons, spreading from one to another.
1891 Speaker 11 July 36/1 The Initiative, or right of a body of citizens outside the Legislature to initiate proposals for the abolition, alteration, or enactment of laws.
1898 Hazell's Annual 643 (Switzerland) The principles of the Referendum and of the Initiative are in force. The latter signifies the right of any 50,000 citizens to demand a direct popular vote on any constitutional question.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1900; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
initiativeadj.
/ɪˈnɪʃətɪv/, U.S. /ᵻˈnɪʃədɪv/ 1. Characterized by initiating; having the function, power, or faculty of beginning or originating something; of or relating to initiation, initiatory.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > causation > initiating or causing to begin > [adjective]
initiatory1615
initiative1795
ice-breaking1824
breaking1853
1642 [implied in: T. Lechford Plain Dealing (1867) 5 Some may say, that this power of ruling is but ministerially in the officers, and initiatively, conclusively, and virtually in the people. (at initiatively adv.)].
1795 H. M. Williams Lett. France I. i The initiative term of captivity and death.
1808 J. Bentham Sc. Reform 108 Authority, inquisitorial and initiative.
1849 D. G. Mitchell Battle Summer (1852) 118 It was initiative, as its makers hoped, to a higher progress.
1874 J. A. Symonds Sketches Italy & Greece (1898) I. i. 5 At the time of Rousseau's greatness the French people were initiative.
ΚΠ
1656 T. Blount Glossographia Initiative, Initiated (initiatus), which hath ended his Apprentiship, or is a young beginner in the first Principles; licensed or admitted to.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1900; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1793adj.1642