from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
adjective Beginning; initial.
adjective Grammar Of or being a verb or verbal form that designates the beginning of an action, state, or event, such as the Latin verb tumēscēre, “to begin to swell.”
from The Century Dictionary.
In the state of inception or formation; incipient; rudimentary.
Expressing or indicating beginning; inceptive: as, an inchoative verb (otherwise called inceptive).
noun That which begins, or that which expresses the beginning of, an action or state; specifically, in grammar, an inchoative verb.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
adjective Expressing or pertaining to a beginning; inceptive.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
adjective At the beginning, still in an unformed state.
adjective grammarAspectually indicating that an action is soon to begin.
adjective grammar Inflected in or relating to the inchoative aspect.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
noun aspect with regard to the beginning of the action of the verb
adjective beginning to develop
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Latin inchoativus, incohativus: compare French inchoatif.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word inchoative.
Examples
Our train on that first official journey to Washington proved to be a kind of inchoative "Congressional Limited."
"inchoative" nature.a. Inchoative verbs from the roots of "intransitive verbs" indicate the "beginning" or "coming into existence" of the act or condition expressed in the root: sidigxi, to become sitting, to sit down, to take a seat. starigxi, to become standing, to stand up.
Also, forms like *wóidh₂e 'I know' which never ever show reduplication in the later perfect hint at their original meaning and usage: 'I know' (stative) → 'I have come to know' (inchoative) → 'I have known/seen' (perfective past).
Also, forms like *wóidh₂e 'I know' which never ever show reduplication in the later perfect hint at their original meaning and usage: 'I know' (stative) → 'I have come to know' (inchoative) → 'I have known/seen' (perfective past).
A textbook example: English has no causative DIE alongside inchoative DIE because it's pre-empted by causative KILL; in a sense, KILL got there first, so there's no point in creating causative DIE.
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.