nascent

adjective

ˈna-sᵊnt How to pronounce nascent (audio)
Definition of nascentnext
as in initial
beginning to come into existence one of the leading figures in the nascent civil-rights movement

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 nascent After about five months, a nascent Olive was born, promptly becoming a cofounder of sorts. — Margaux MacColl, Vanity Fair, 14 July 2026 Born out of his own workout journey, the four-part series gives viewers — and nascent exercisers — a taste of Shane’s training with Joseph as well as Alo Wellness Club’s pilates instructor Bianca Wise. — Kaleigh Werner, Footwear News, 13 July 2026 But interest in the nascent field is rising as companies notch up milestones, such as enabling people with degenerative conditions including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) to type or play video games using brain signals. — Elaine Yu, CNBC, 11 July 2026 Such an order could potentially slow OpenAI’s nascent hardware operation. — Ben Goggin, NBC news, 10 July 2026 See All Example Sentences for nascent
Recent Examples of Synonyms for nascent
  1. initial
  2. first
  3. incipient
  4. budding
  5. inchoate
  6. elementary
  7. original
Adjective
  • The initial proof of principle by the Normal team served as an inspiration for Whitelam, who recently reported a simulation of a nonequilibrium thermodynamic computing circuit.
    — Quanta Magazine, Quanta Magazine, 15 July 2026
  • The initial broadcast sparked protests and complaints from viewers, advertisers, and conservative activists, leading some CBS affiliates to exclude the episode from their lineup of reruns the following summer.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 July 2026
Definition of initial
Adjective
  • Monday’s victory for the Braves was just their second in the last 11 games against the Padres and the first of this season after being swept in San Diego in June.
    — Chad Bishop, AJC.com, 21 July 2026
  • Gen might have gotten away scot-free from the sheets incident in terms of optics — no one questions her involvement, even though her job description includes housekeeping — but karma hounds her during the first day of the charter.
    — Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 21 July 2026
Definition of first
Adjective
  • Yet people in Venezuela saw few indications of an incipient transition.
    — Stephania Taladrid, New Yorker, 20 July 2026
  • Nolan, who also wrote the screenplay, cuts between Ulysses’ trials and Telemachus’ travels through the Ionian isles to find out whether his father is still alive – a matter of some importance both to his incipient manhood and to Penelope back home.
    — Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor, 16 July 2026
Definition of incipient
Adjective
  • Following the characters’ daily lives as tweens, the series shows us a much more vulnerable Angelica (Cheryl Chase), and a not-so-bald Tommy’s (Elizabeth Daily) imagination evolving into a budding filmmaking career.
    — Skyler Trepel, Entertainment Weekly, 20 June 2026
  • The camp will let budding designers explore and take the world of fashion to the next level using AI tools.
    — Hema Sivanandam, Mercury News, 15 June 2026
Definition of budding
Adjective
  • Yet, even these inchoate moments deepen the music’s sense of honest confusion.
    — Jon Dolan, Rolling Stone, 8 June 2026
  • These are the inchoate and unarticulated aspects of the relationship an author offers to us through a book, the parts of the reading experience that provide a kind of psychological mooring for a reader.
    — Walt Hunter, The Atlantic, 4 June 2026
Definition of inchoate
Adjective
  • Children ages 6-11, in the early elementary years, are still developing socially.
    — Elizabeth Dowdell, Fortune, 15 July 2026
  • It was hit and miss, but overall those bookshelves were like the world itself, stretchy enough to accommodate, across decades, both a middle-aged lawyer and his elementary-school granddaughter.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 July 2026
Definition of elementary
Adjective
  • While Nielsen’s streaming rankings for the week of July 6 to 12 won’t be available for another month or so, early data from the measurement company puts The Five Star Weekend among the Top 5 original streaming series in that timeframe.
    — Katie Campione, Deadline, 17 July 2026
  • The original case dates back to the early hours of May 8, 1981, when Sebold, then a Syracuse University freshman, was brutally raped in a park near campus.
    — Joaquin Sapien, ProPublica, 17 July 2026
Definition of original

Browse Nearby Words

nascency
nascent
nastily
See all Nearby Words

Podcast

Cite this Entry

“Nascent.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nascent. Accessed 22 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on nascent

Nglish: Translation of nascent for Spanish Speakers

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!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of stalwart

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

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

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Do you 'say your piece' or 'say your peace'?

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Longest Long Words List

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

Why do we say 'fly off the handle'?
See More

Popular

See More

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

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat
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
thumbnail graphic with text word of the day quiz
Weekly "Word of the Day" Quiz See how well you know each Word of the Day for Ju...
See All