Standard Lemma guide

initially

adv · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ɪˈnɪʃəli/
  • /ɪˈnɪʃli/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: IH2 N IH1 SH AH0 L IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adv

Meaning 1

At the beginning.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • Initially, I found city life incredibly difficult, but now I'm used to it.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adverb

Meaning 2

at the beginning

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • at first he didn't notice anything strange

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ab initio

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English initial Middle English -ly English -ly English initially From initial + -ly.

Across languages

Translations

37 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bashkir: башта (başta) — at the beginning
  • Bulgarian: първоначално (pǎrvonačalno) — at the beginning
  • Bulgarian: отначало (otnačalo) — at the beginning
  • Chinese Mandarin: 起初 (qǐchū) — at the beginning
  • Chinese Mandarin: 最初 (zuìchū) — at the beginning
  • Dutch: aanvankelijk — at the beginning
  • Esperanto: komence — at the beginning
  • Finnish: aluksi — at the beginning
  • Finnish: alun perin — at the beginning
  • French: initialement — at the beginning
  • French: au début — at the beginning
  • French: au commencement — at the beginning
  • Galician: inicialmente — at the beginning
  • German: zunächst — at the beginning
  • German: anfangs — at the beginning
  • Ancient Greek: τὴν ἀρχὴν (tḕn arkhḕn) — at the beginning
  • Japanese: 始めに (hajime ni) — at the beginning
  • Korean: 처음에 (cheo'eume) — at the beginning
  • Manchu: ᡨᡠᡴᡨᠠᠨ (tuktan) — at the beginning
  • Occitan: inicialament — at the beginning
  • Polish: początkowo — at the beginning
  • Portuguese: inicialmente — at the beginning
  • Russian: первонача́льно (pervonačálʹno) — at the beginning
  • Russian: изнача́льно (iznačálʹno) — at the beginning
  • Russian: снача́ла (snačála) — at the beginning
  • Russian: внача́ле (vnačále) — at the beginning
  • Scottish Gaelic: an toiseach — at the beginning
  • Scottish Gaelic: sa chiad dol a-mach — at the beginning
  • Spanish: inicialmente — at the beginning
  • Spanish: al principio — at the beginning
  • Spanish: en un principio — at the beginning
  • Spanish: al comienzo — at the beginning
  • Spanish: al inicio — at the beginning
  • Swahili: mwanzo — at the beginning
  • Swedish: inledningsvis — at the beginning
  • Thai: ตอนแรก — at the beginning
  • Yakut: бастаан (bastaan) — at the beginning
Real reading context

initially in complete knowledge articles