nascent

adjective

na·​scent ˈnā-  ˈna-sᵊnt 

: coming or having recently come into existence

a nascent middle class

her nascent singing career

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The Origin of Nascent

Nascent descends from the Latin verb nasci, meaning “to be born,” as does many an English word, from nation and nature to innate and renaissance. But rather than describing the birth of literal babies—as in pups, kits, hoglets, et al.—nascent is applied to things (such as careers or technologies) that have recently formed or come into existence, as when scholar Danille K. Taylor-Guthrie wrote of Toni Morrison being “an integral part of a nascent group of black women writers who would alter the course of African American, American, and world literature.”

Synonyms of nascent

• initial
• first
• incipient
• budding
• inchoate
• elementary
• original

Examples of nascent in a Sentence

In the mid-'60s, Toronto was home to Yorkville, a gathering spot for draft resisters, a petri dish for a nascent coffeehouse and rock scene similar to the one developing in New York's Greenwich Village. —Mike Sager, Rolling Stone, 27 June 1996

It was almost 80 years ago that the Wright brothers from Ohio ventured to Kitty Hawk for the uplift its steady winds offered their nascent passion, airplanes. —Robert R. Yandle, Popular Photography, March 1993

A few centuries late, when the nascent science of geology was gathering evidence for the earth's enormous antiquity, some advocates of biblical literalism revived this old argument for our entire planet. —Stephen Jay Gould, Granta 16, Summer 1985

The actress is now focusing on her nascent singing career.

one of the leading figures in the nascent civil-rights movement

Recent Examples on the Web

Tom Hill / Getty Images The band's rock-chic cool played well on the nascent MTV crowd and their videos, featuring models in short skirts emerging from one of Gibbons' custom roadsters, became a mainstay. — CBS News, 18 Aug. 2026

Bill Rasmussen, a former local-news sports director who parlayed an interest in the nascent business of satellite television into the launch of the sports-media giant known as ESPN, has died after a battle with Parkinson’s disease. — Brian Steinberg, Variety, 18 Aug. 2026

Such streamers are thought to be how stars grow, delivering mass onto nascent suns. — Keith Cooper, Space.com, 17 Aug. 2026

In a few moments, the nascent supernova will release as much energy as the sun will over its entire lifetime. — Phil Plait, Scientific American, 14 Aug. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Latin nascent-, nascens, present participle of nasci to be born — more at nation

First Known Use

circa 1624, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for nascent

• adjacent
• complacent
• complaisant
• subjacent

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Medical Definition

nascent

adjective

na·​scent ˈnas-ᵊnt  ˈnās- 

1

: coming or having recently come into existence : beginning to develop

nascent polypeptide chains

2

: of, relating to, or being an atom or substance at the moment of its formation usually with the implication of greater reactivity than otherwise

nascent hydrogen