Word.ws English Dictionary

principiate

/pɹɪnˈsɪpiət/

principiate noun: the product of a principle.

Noun

principiate (plural principiates)

  1. The product of a principle.
    • Of Subſtances ſome are Principles, ſome Principiates. By Principles, I mean ſubſtances that are cauſes of other things, but are themſelves uncauſed. By Principiates (give me leave to make an Engliſh word of one not very good Latin) I mean ſubſtances that are cauſed, or compoſed of Principles....1694, Richard Burthogge, “The Idea or Notion of Substance. […]”, in An Essay upon Reason, and the Nature of Spirits, London: […] John Dunton […], →OCLC, chapter V (Of Substance), page 101
    • From what hath been ſaid above, it is evident, why all Things of the Body are Principiates, that is, Contextures conſiſting of Fibres from their Principles, which are Receptacles of Love and Wiſdom, and that ſuch as the Principles are, ſuch muſt alſo the Principiates be, wherefore whitherſoever the...1788, Emanuel Swedenborg, translated by [Nathaniel Tucker], “As the Love Is, Such Is the Wisdom, and Consequently Such Is the Man”, in The Wisdom of Angels, Concerning Divine Love and Divine Wisdom....

Verb

IPA/pɹɪnˈsɪpieɪt/

principiate (third-person singular simple present principiates, present participle principiating, simple past and past participle principiated)

  1. (transitive) To begin; to initiate.
    • Both the Kingly and Prophetical Offices of Jesus Christ are principiated in this1654, Edward Leigh, A Systeme or Body of Divinity
    • In short, the principles of any science are not proved by the science employing them. Principles are only inadequately and virtually the wholes which they principiate; otherwise, in knowing the principles, the mind would also actually know what is principiated.1954, Vincent Edward Smith, St. Thomas on the Object of Geometry (The Aquinas Lecture, 1953), Milwaukee, Wis.: Marquette University Press, →OCLC, pages 58–59

Adjective

principiate (not comparable)

  1. (obsolete) Having a beginning; of or constituting a beginning.
    • For, while we are, certainly, we cannot imagine Two diſtinct Durations; but one, which in reſpct^([sic]) to our Nature, that is principiate, mutable, and terminable, doth contain deſignable Terms; […]1654, Walter Charleton, “Their Assertors Subterfuge, that Eternity Is Coexistent to Time; Also Unintelligible”, in Physiologia Epicuro-Gassendo-Charltoniana: or A Fabrick of Science Natural, upon the...
    • [W]e are at a loſs for a ſcientificall account even of our Senſes, the moſt knowable of our facultyes. Our eyes, that ſee other things, ſee not themſelves: And thoſe principiate foundations of knowledge are themſelvs unknown.1661, Joseph Glanvill, “We Can Give No Account of the Manner of Sensation: nor of the Nature of the Memory. […]”, in The Vanity of Dogmatizing: Or Confidence in Opinions. […], London: […] E. C[otes]...

Examples of principiate in a sentence

  • Of Subſtances ſome are Principles, ſome Principiates.1694, Richard Burthogge, “The Idea or Notion of Substance. […]”, in An Essay upon Reason, and the Nature of Spirits, London: […] John...
  • In a word, then, the term actual designates a principle not a principiate, a source not a result.1982, Kenneth L. Schmitz, chapter IV [The Ontological Drama], in The Gift: Creation (The Aquinas Lecture, 1982), Milwaukee, Wis.: Marquette...
  • All formed beings are terminate, that is, are principiate or have a beginning, and finite, or have an ending.1702, Gideon Harvey, “Of Corporeal, and Incorporeal Philosophy”, in The Third Edition of the Vanities of Philosophy and Physick: […]...

Forms of principiate

Noun
pluralprincipiates
Verb
third-person singular presentprincipiates
present participleprincipiating
past participleprincipiated
pastprincipiated

Origin of principiate

The verb is first attested in 1613, the adjective in 1654; borrowed from Late Latin prī̆ncipiātus, perfect passive participle of prī̆ncipiō (“to begin to speak, commence”) (see -ate (etymology 1, 2 and 3)), from Latin prī̆ncipium (“beginning, origin; foundation, principle”). With use as noun, compare Latin prī̆ncipiātum (“derivative of a first principle”).

Questions about principiate

What does principiate mean?
Principiate means the product of a principle.
How do you use principiate in a sentence?
Of Subſtances ſome are Principles, ſome Principiates.
What part of speech is principiate?
Principiate can be a noun, a verb or an adjective.
How do you pronounce principiate?
Principiate is pronounced /pɹɪnˈsɪpiət/.
What is the plural of principiate?
The plural of principiate is principiates.

Words near principiate in the dictionary

  1. principessas
  2. principi
  3. principia
  4. principial
  5. principiant
  6. principiate
  7. principiated
  8. principiates
  9. principiating
  10. principiation
  11. principiations

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: principiate (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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