adjective
- beginning; initial.
- Grammar. (of a derived verb, or of an aspect in verb inflection) expressing the beginning of the action indicated by the underlying verb, as Latin verbs in -scō, which generally have inceptive force, as calēscō “become or begin to be hot” from caleō “be hot.”
noun Grammar.
- the inceptive aspect.
- a verb in this aspect.
adjective
- beginning; incipient; initial
- Also called: inchoative grammar denoting an aspect of verbs in some languages used to indicate the beginning of an action
noun
- grammar
- the inceptive aspect of verbs
- a verb in this aspect
1650s, from French inceptif (16c.), from Latin incept-, past participle stem of incipere “to begin” (see inception).