Make Your Point > Archived Issues > INCIPIENT

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connect today's word to others: Things that are newly forming--just now starting and not yet full-blown--are incipient. This word comes straight from a Latin verb for "begin" (literally "take up"), so it doesn't have a concrete metaphor beneath it. But here are some words that do! Embryonic, germinal, and inchoate. They're all synonyms of incipient, and each hinges on a concrete metaphor. Which of those three relies on the metaphor of a bud or a sprout? And which one relies on the metaphor of a yoke that's hitched up and ready to go? And the third one--what metaphor does it rely on? make your point with... "INCIPIENT" This word comes from a Latin verb meaning "to begin, or to have a beginning." Something incipient is new, just now beginning or just now starting out, and not yet fully formed. Pronunciation: in SIP ee unt Part of speech: Adjective. (Adjectives are describing words, like "large" or "late." They can be used in two ways: 1. Right before a noun, as in "an incipient thing" or "an incipient person." 2. After a linking verb, as in "It was incipient.") Other forms: The adverb is "incipiently." It's rare, but an alternate adjective is "inceptive." Let's look at two nouns: "incipience" and "inception." Use "incipience" to mean "the early stage of something," and use "inception" to mean "a beginning." The difference is so teeny! I'd say that an "incipience" is often murkier, less defined, or less purposeful than an "inception." How to use it: Incipient things are often problems that are just starting out: incipient inflation, incipient glaucoma, incipient arthritis, incipient panic, incipient fascism, incipient terrorism. But we can also call things incipient when they're neutral or positive: incipient plans or goals, incipient talents or abilities, a child's incipient personality, incipient feelings and interests, an incipient relationship, a city's incipient music scene, an incipient social movement, an incipient democracy, etc. You can also say that something is in an incipient state, stage, or phase. Almost always, we used "incipient" to talk about things. Rarely, we talk about incipient types of people, such as incipient terrorists or incipient authoritarians. examples: Their wedding chapel has grown, changed, and experienced much success; back in 2001, though, the chapel was still an incipient dream. For some, the transformation from belief to agnosticism starts with an incipient doubt, a little wordless thought clinging to a question mark. study it now: Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "incipient" means when you can explain it without saying "developing" or "nascent." try it out: Fill in the blanks: "I first noticed (someone's) incipient (ability, talent, or feeling) as (something happened)." Example: "I first noticed my baby daughter's incipient language ability as I asked her for a certain toy--a pig--and she looked for it, then handed it to me. I was overjoyed." before you review: Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first. Our game this month is "A Vocabulary of Movie Quotes." Jean Picker Firstenberg at the American Film Institute (AFI) says, "Great movie quotes become part of our cultural vocabulary." I believe it! I bet you can recall, verbatim, any of the AFI's "100 Greatest Movie Quotes of All Time" if all I give you is a single word from the quote. For example, if I give you the word KANSAS, I bet you can recite this: "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore," from The Wizard of Oz (1939). I'll share each answer in the following issue. And we’ll work our way forward in time, starting with the oldest movies. Let’s play! From the previous issue: From a 1994 film, what's the famous quote that includes the word CHOCOLATES? Answer: From Forrest Gump: "My mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." Try this today: From a 1995 film, what's the famous quote that includes the word HOUSTON? review today's word: 1. The opposite of INCIPIENT is A. INITIAL B. OUTWARD C. FULL-FLEDGED 2. She felt the _____ of an incipient panic. A. flicker B. explosion C. relief Answers are below. a final word: Make Your Point is crafted with love and brought to you each weekday morning by Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From Liesl's blog:    36 ways to study words.    Why we forget words, & how to remember them.    How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes. Answers to review questions: 1. C 2. A