inaugurate
Meanings
Plural: inaugurate, inaugurated
Verb
- commence officially
- open ceremoniously or dedicate formally
- be a precursor of
- To induct (someone) into a dignity or office with a formal ceremony.
- To dedicate (a building, monument, etc.) for public use by a formal ceremony.
- To initiate or usher in (something, as a (significant) course of action, development, organization, or period of time) with a formal ceremony or in a ceremonious manner; also (loosely), to begin or commence (something); to start.
- To cause (something) to be auspicious or good-omened; also, to declare or make (something) holy; to consecrate, to sanctify.
Adj
- Inducted into a dignity or office with a formal ceremony or in a ceremonious manner; inaugurated.
Origin / Etymology
Either:
* borrowed from French inaugurer (“to inaugurate”), from Latin inaugurō (“to take omens from the flight of birds, to divine, practise augury; to approve, consecrate, or inaugurate on the basis of omens; to install”) with common assimilation of French -er with English -ate (verb-forming suffix)
* or a Learned borrowing from Latin inaugurātus, perfect passive participle of inaugurō, see etymology at -ate;
Further from in- (“against; into; on, upon; to, towards”) + augurō (“to act as an augur, interpret omens, augur; to foretell, predict; to conjecture, guess”), from augur (“soothsayer, augur”) + -ō (first conjugation verb-forming suffix) (further etymology uncertain; see the entry).
Synonyms
auspicate, behallow, bless, canonize, consecrate, dedicate, hallow, handsel, inaugur, inaugurate, introduce, kick off, martyr, sacralize, saint, sanctify, usher in
Antonyms
Scrabble Score: 11
inaugurate is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL wordinaugurate is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
inaugurate is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary