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77 results for: initiation

Dictionary Entries (7 more entries. View all »)
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source
in·i·ti·a·tion    Audio Help   [i-nish-ee-ey-shuhn] Pronunciation Key
–noun
1.formal admission or acceptance into an organization or club, adult status in one's community or society, etc.
2.the ceremonies or rites of admission. Compare rite of passage.
3.the act of initiating.
4.the fact of being initiated.
[Origin: 1575–85; < L initiātiōn- (s. of initiātiō). See initiate, -ion]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Thesaurus Entries
  Roget's II: The New Thesaurus - Cite This Source
Main Entry:  initiation
Part of Speech:  noun
Definition:  The act or process of formally admitting a person to membership or office.
Synonyms:  inaugural, inauguration, induction, installation, instatement, investiture
Source:  Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition
by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary.
Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

  Roget's II: The New Thesaurus - Cite This Source
Main Entry:  beginning
Part of Speech:  noun
Definition:  The act or process of bringing or being brought into existence.
Synonyms:  commencement, inauguration, inception, incipience, incipiency, launch, leadoff, opening, origination, start
Source:  Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition
by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary.
Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.


Encyclopedia Articles (66 more entries. View all »)
Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia - Cite This Source

initiation, the transition and attendant ceremonies, such as ordeals and rites, involved in passing from one state or status to another, often from childhood to adulthood. It was among the most important social institutions of early humans. The ordeal measures the initiate's worthiness to enter the new status. Initiation may mean the cessation of contact with those who have not been initiated. Seclusion, mutilation, symbolic representation of death and resurrection, the display of sacred objects, special instruction, and restrictions on the initiate are frequent attributes of the ceremonies. Many early societies had puberty initiations. Their purpose was to induct the young person both into the full status of an adult and into the religion of the group.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004, Columbia University Press.
Licensed from Columbia University Press


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