incipient

adjective

in-ˈsi-pē-ənt How to pronounce incipient (audio)
Definition of incipientnext
as in nascent
beginning to come into existence I have an incipient dislike and distrust of that guy, and I only met him this morning

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of incipient Even incipient technologies like quantum computing rely on specialized fabrication and precision engineering. — Eric Kutcher, Fortune, 13 May 2026 Their evident fondness for one another, glowing warmly alongside all their sniping and whispering and eye-rolling, allows all the nightmares in Big Mistakes to feel like a lark rather than an incipient calamity. — Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 10 Apr. 2026 Now, the Iran war threatens to widen an incipient generational divide within the GOP. — Ronald Brownstein, Mercury News, 19 Mar. 2026 His incipient political ascent has been marred by tragedy—41 people died and more than 80 were injured in a stampede at a TVK rally in 2025. — Gitanjali Roy, Encyclopedia Britannica, 9 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for incipient
Recent Examples of Synonyms for incipient
  1. nascent
  2. initial
  3. first
Adjective
  • Silvester’s concept became the Falcon Study, a new interpretation of the original developed by his San Diego start-up Q7 Yacht Designs, with naval architecture by Dutch firm Dykstra, known for its work on the series of nascent J-Class examples.
    — Michael Verdon, Robb Report, 30 Aug. 2026
  • Summary Anthropic has committed $45 billion over six years to Nscale, a nascent British infrastructure firm, for computing capacity at a new West Virginia campus.
    — Jon Markman, Forbes.com, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of nascent
Adjective
  • Yoshikazu Tsuno | Afp | Getty Images Japan's startup and initial-public offering scenes may get a boost from a new trading platform that will help unlisted companies raise capital.
    — Justina Lee, CNBC, 27 Aug. 2026
  • The initial offering will include more than 200 titles across popular genres including romance, billionaire romance, fantasy and family drama, with a wide selection of titles available with Indonesian dubbing and subtitles.
    — Liz Shackleton, Deadline, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of initial
Adjective
  • Player of the Week Senior outside hitter Quinn Grevengoed tallies 92 kills and 15 aces in seven matches and then is named MVP for host Chicago Christian as Knights take tournament title for first time since 2014.
    — Jeff Vorva, Chicago Tribune, 1 Sep. 2026
  • After filling our brushes with mouthwash from docking station reservoirs, Sarah and I brushed our teeth side-by-side (a first for both of us professionally).
    — Jenny Bailly, Allure, 1 Sep. 2026
Definition of first

Browse Nearby Words

incipiency
incipient
incipiently
See all Nearby Words

Podcast

Cite this Entry

“Incipient.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/incipient. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

Why does English have so many silent letters?

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

Even More Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
skateboard-dog-hat
Wordmaxxing Slang Quiz Give your vocabulary a glow up by getting sendy w...
See All