different between initiate vs neophyte

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin initi?tus, perfect passive participle of initi? (“begin, originate”), from initium (“a beginning”), from ine? (“go in, enter upon, begin”), from in + e? (“go”).

Pronunciation

• (verb) IPA^(key): /??n??.?.e?t/
• (noun, adjective) IPA^(key): /??n??.?.?t/
• Hyphenation: ini?ti?ate

Noun

initiate (plural initiates)

1. A new member of an organization.
2. One who has been through a ceremony of initiation.

Translations

Verb

initiate (third-person singular simple present initiates, present participle initiating, simple past and past participle initiated)

1. (transitive) To begin; to start.
   • 1859-1860, Isaac Taylor, Ultimate Civilisation

     How are changes of this sort to be initiated?

2. To instruct in the rudiments or principles; to introduce.
   • 1653-1655, Henry More, An Antidote against Atheism

     Divine Providence would only initiate and enter mankind into the useful knowledge of her, leaving the rest to employ our industry.

   • to initiate his pupil in any part of learning

3. To confer membership on; especially, to admit to a secret order with mysterious rites or ceremonies.
   • 1738-1741, William Warburton, Divine Legation of Moses demonstrated on the Principles of a Religious Deist

     The Athenians believed that he who was initiated and instructed in the mysteries would obtain celestial honour after death.

   • He was initiated into half a dozen clubs before he was one and twenty.

4. (intransitive) To do the first act; to perform the first rite; to take the initiative.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Alexander Pope to this entry?)

Antonyms

• (to begin): end, conclude, complete, finish

Related terms

Translations

Adjective

initiate (comparative more initiate, superlative most initiate)

1. (obsolete) Unpractised; untried; new.
2. (obsolete) Begun; commenced; introduced to, or instructed in, the rudiments; newly admitted.

Further reading

• initiate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• initiate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• initiate at OneLook Dictionary Search

Latin

Participle

initi?te

1. vocative masculine singular of initi?tus

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin neophytus, from Ancient Greek ???????? (neóphutos, “newly planted”), from ???? (néos, “new”) + ????? (phutón, “plant, child”). Surface analysis is neo- +? -phyte.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?ni.??fa?t/

Noun

neophyte (plural neophytes)

1. A beginner; a person who is new to a subject, skill, or belief.

   Synonyms: beginner, newbie, newcomer, starter

   • 1927-29, M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai, Part I, Chapter xvii:

     A convert's enthusiasm for his new religion is greater than that of a person who is born in it. Vegetarianism was then a new cult in England, and likewise for me, because, as we have seen, I had gone there a convinced meat-eater, and was intellectually converted to vegetarianism later. Full of the neophyte's zeal for vegetarianism, I decided to start a vegetarian club in my locality, Bayswater. I invited Sir Edwin Arnold, who lived there, to be Vice-President. Dr. Oldfield who was Editor of the The Vegetarian became President. I myself became the Secretary. The club went well for a while, but came to an end in the course of a few months. For I left the locality, according to my custom of moving from place to place periodically. But this brief and modest experience gave me some little training in organizing and conducting institutions.
2. A novice (recent convert); a new convert or proselyte; a new monk.

   Synonym: novice

3. (Christianity) A name given by the early Christians, and still given by the Roman Catholics, to those who have recently embraced the Christian faith, and been admitted to baptism, especially those converts from heathenism or Judaism.

   Synonym: catechumen

4. (botany) A plant species recently introduced to an area (in contrast to archaeophyte, a long-established introduced species).

   Antonym: archaeophyte

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:beginner

Translations

References

• Random House Dictionary, 2nd Edition, 1987.

Further reading

• Neophyte on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Neophyte in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• hypnotee, phytoene

Latin

Adjective

neophyte

1. vocative masculine singular of neophytus