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Initiate vs Launch - What's the difference?

initiate | launch |

In transitive terms the difference between initiate and launch

is that initiate is to begin; to start while launch is to send out; to start (one) on a career; to set going; to give a start to (something); to put in operation.

As an adjective initiate

is unpractised; untried; new.

initiate

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • (obsolete) Unpractised; untried; new.
  • * Shakespeare
  • the initiate fear that wants hard use
  • (obsolete) Begun; commenced; introduced to, or instructed in, the rudiments; newly admitted.
  • * Young
  • To rise in science as in bliss, / Initiate in the secrets of the skies.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A new member of an organization.
  • One who has been through a ceremony of initiation.
  • Verb

    (initiat)
  • To begin; to start.
  • * I. Taylor
  • How are changes of this sort to be initiated ?
  • To instruct in the rudiments or principles; to introduce.
  • * Dr. H. More
  • Providence would only initiate mankind into the useful knowledge of her treasures, leaving the rest to employ our industry.
  • * John Locke
  • To initiate his pupil into any part of learning, an ordinary skill in the governor is enough.
  • To confer membership on; especially, to admit to a secret order with mysterious rites or ceremonies.
  • * Bishop Warburton
  • The Athenians believed that he who was initiated and instructed in the mysteries would obtain celestial honour after death.
  • * Spectator
  • He was initiated into half a dozen clubs before he was one and twenty.
  • To do the first act; to perform the first rite; to take the initiative.
  • (Alexander Pope)

    Antonyms

    * (to begin) end, conclude, complete, finish

    launch

    English

    Alternative forms

    * lanch (obsolete)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) /Norman variant, compare Jèrriais lanchi ) of lancier, French lancer, from lance.

    Verb

    (es)
  • To throw, as a lance or dart; to hurl; to let fly; to send off, propel with force.
  • * 2011 , Stephen Budiansky, Perilous Fight: America's Intrepid War with Britain on the High Seas, 1812-1815 , page 323
  • There they were met by four thousand Ha'apa'a warriors, who launched a volley of stones and spears
  • (obsolete) To pierce with, or as with, a lance.
  • * 1591 , (Edmund Spenser), The Teares of the Muses
  • And launch your hearts with lamentable wounds.
  • To cause to move or slide from the land into the water; to set afloat.
  • *
  • Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.
  • * 1725–1726 , (Alexander Pope), Homer's Odyssey (translation), Book V
  • With stays and cordage last he rigged the ship, / And rolled on levers, launched her in the deep.
  • To send out; to start (one) on a career; to set going; to give a start to (something); to put in operation.
  • * 1649 , (Eikon Basilike)
  • All art is u?ed to ?ink Epi?copacy, & lanch Presbytery in England .
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2 , passage=Here was my chance. I took the old man aside, and two or three glasses of Old Crow launched him into reminiscence.}}
  • * , chapter=13
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=“[…] They talk of you as if you were Croesus—and I expect the beggars sponge on you unconscionably.” And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-09-07, volume=408, issue=8852, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Kill or cure , passage=On September 3rd Bionym, a Canadian firm, launched Nymi, a bracelet which detects the wearer’s heartbeat.}}
  • (often with out) To move with force and swiftness like a sliding from the stocks into the water; to plunge; to make a beginning.
  • * 1718 , (Matthew Prior), Solomon: On the Vanity of the World , Preface
  • In our language, Spen?er has not contented him?elf with this ?ubmi??ive manner of imitation : he launches out into very flowery paths
  • * 1969 , (Maya Angelou), I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings , ch. 23:
  • My class was wearing butter-yellow pique dresses, and Momma launched out on mine. She smocked the yoke into tiny crisscrossing puckers, then shirred the rest of the bodice.
    Synonyms
    * (to pierce) lance, pierce

    Noun

    (es)
  • The act of launching.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= The attack of the MOOCs , passage=Dotcom mania was slow in coming to higher education, but now it has the venerable industry firmly in its grip. Since the launch early last year of Udacity and Coursera, two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations.}}
  • The movement of a vessel from land into the water; especially, the sliding on ways from the stocks on which it is built. (Compare: to splash a ship.)
  • Derived terms
    * launching (as a noun) * launching ways

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl)

    Noun

    (es)
  • (nautical) The boat of the largest size and/or of most importance belonging to a ship of war, and often called the "captain's boat" or "captain's launch".
  • (nautical) A boat used to convey guests to and from a yaucht.
  • (nautical) An open boat of any size powered by steam, naphtha, electricity, or the like. (Compare Spanish lancha .)
  • Derived terms
    *

    See also

    * barge * boat * * yacht

    Anagrams

    *