English

Adjective

nascent ‎(not comparable)

1. Emerging; just coming into existence.

   India has a nascent space industry.

   • c1624, Richard Crakanthorpe, Vigilius Dormitans, Romes seer overseene: Or a treatise of the fift generall Councell held at Constantinople, anno 553 under Justininan the Emperour, in the time of pope Vigilius […] , Robert Mylebourne, published 1631, page 186:

     In the first the Pope was but Antichrist nascent; In the second Antichrist crescent; In the third Antichrist regnant; […]

2. (mathematics, obsolete) Describing a quantity of object that is starting to grow from zero or an infinitesimal beginning. Also the creation or identification of an infinitesimal delta.
   • 1706, Florian Cajori, PhD., A History of the Conceptions of Limits and Fluxions in Great Britain, from Newton to Woodhouse, Chicago and London: The Open Court Publishing Company, translation of Synopsis Palmariorum Matheseos by William Jones, published 1919, page 43:

     These Fluxions […] are in the first Ratio of their Nascent Augments.

3. Describing the state, aspect, or practice of an abstract concept.
   • 1742, William Warburton, The Divine Legation of Moses Demonstrated, on the Principles of a Religious Deist, from the Omission of the Doctrine of a Future State of Reward and Punishment in the Jewish Dispensation., volume 2, second edition, London: Fletcher Gyles, page 222:

     For, as we have shewn, the original Use of it was to support nascent HeroWorship.

4. (chemistry) Of the state of an element at the time it is being generated from some compound or transitioning from one state to another; Newly released from a compound (especially hydrogen and oxygen) by a chemical reaction or electrolysis and possessing heightened reactivity; Newly synthesized (especially protein or RNA) by translation or transcription.
   • 1800, Humphry Davy, “Additional Observations and Experiments on the Respiration of Nitrous Oxide”, in John Davy, editor, The Collected Works of Sir Humphry Davy […] Researches, Chemical and Philosophical, Chiefly Concerning Nitrous Oxide, or Dephlogisticated Nitrous Air, and its Respiration., volume 3, London: Smith, Elder and Company, published 1839, Of the Changes Effected in Nitrous Oxide, and Other Gases, by the Respiration of Animals, page 250:

     There are no reasons for supposing that any of the residual atmospheric oxygen is immediately combined with fixed or nascent hydrogen, or hydrocarbonate, in the venous blood at 98°, by slow combustion, and consequently none for supposing that water is immediately formed in respiration.

Synonyms

• (emerging): emergent, emerging, immature, inchoate, incipient, infant

Antonyms

• dying
• moribund

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

References

• nascent at OneLook Dictionary Search