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
  • At the time, Truell hadn’t founded a company; but three years later, the venture capitalist persuaded her firm, BoxGroup, to invest in the Gen Z engineering savant’s nascent business.
    — Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 22 Oct. 2026
  • In a conference call on Thursday after the market close, chief financial officer Armelle Poulou was peppered with questions about designer changes, with analysts expressing fears this would delay the group’s nascent recovery.
    — Joelle Diderich, Footwear News, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of nascent
Adjective
  • Court records show that the investigation into the initial allegations was inconclusive.
    — Kacen Bayless, Kansas City Star, 22 Oct. 2026
  • The progress came roughly a year after the program received funding for its initial engineering, manufacturing and development phase.
    — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 21 Oct. 2026
Definition of initial
Adjective
  • Ukraine received no warning from its partners ahead of the first wave of attacks, and information about a second wave arrived too late for air raid sirens to be activated in time, air force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said on national television.
    — SAMYA KULLAB, Arkansas Online, 20 Oct. 2026
  • The model became the first real hit in the emerging athletic shoe industry.
    — Phil Wahba, Fortune, 20 Oct. 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 25 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

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

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of emissary

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Can' vs. 'May'

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

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

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Words of the Week - Oct. 23

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

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
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
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All