Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Incipient; beginning.
  • adjective Grammar Inchoative.
  • noun Grammar An inchoative verb.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Beginning; starting; noting the initial point or step: as, an inceptive proposition; an inceptive verb (one that expresses the beginning of action).
  • In mathematics, serving to initiate or produce: applied to such moments or first principles as, though of no magnitude themselves, are yet capable of producing results which are: thus, a point is inceptive of a line; a line, of a surface; and a surface, of a solid.
  • noun That which begins or notes beginning, as a proposition or a verb. Also inchoative.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Beginning; expressing or indicating beginning; ; -- called also inchoative.
  • noun An inceptive word, phrase, or clause.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective beginning; of or relating to inception
  • adjective grammar aspectually inflected to show that the action is beginning

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the French inceptif, from the Latin inceptīvus, from incipiō ("I begin").

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Examples

  • Because I spent a good two minutes weighing the pros and cons of each, I now realize that I was wholly taken advantage of by inceptive in the Christopher Nolan sense of the word marketing.

    Danny Licht: Woes of a Consumer: Toothpaste Fragmentation Danny Licht 2011

  • The correct order is been seen (pre-recent), done seen (recent), did see (pre-present), do see (past inceptive).

    I don’t care if you don’t like it, it’s a fact « Motivated Grammar 2010

  • Little did I know that my Brooklyn born and bred future wife was also witnessing, 50 miles to the west of me, this inceptive conflagration paired to Christmas music.

    TV Yule Log Brings Joyous Memory 2011

  • The correct order is been seen (pre-recent), done seen (recent), did see (pre-present), do see (past inceptive).

    I don’t care if you don’t like it, it’s a fact « Motivated Grammar 2010

  • As we have seen, Heidegger thinks that the tradition takes its bearing from the end of the inceptive beginning.

    enowning enowning 2008

  • But Kant shows the limits of the mathematical prejudice and in doing so shows the limits of inceptive truth.

    enowning enowning 2008

  • As we have seen, Heidegger thinks that the tradition takes its bearing from the end of the inceptive beginning.

    Archive 2008-09-01 enowning 2008

  • We recall that in the 1935 lecture course, Heidegger specified two requirements for the overcoming of the disjunction. a The first was to show the limits of its inceptive truth.

    enowning enowning 2008

  • But Kant shows the limits of the mathematical prejudice and in doing so shows the limits of inceptive truth.

    Archive 2008-09-01 enowning 2008

  • We recall that in the 1935 lecture course, Heidegger specified two requirements for the overcoming of the disjunction. a The first was to show the limits of its inceptive truth.

    Archive 2008-09-01 enowning 2008

Comments

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  • "In mathematics, serving to initiate or produce: applied to such moments or first principles as, though of no magnitude themselves, are yet capable of producing results which are: thus, a point is inceptive of a line; a line, of a surface; and a surface, of a solid."

    --Cent. Dict.

    October 23, 2012