Meaning of initiative in English

initiative
noun
us

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/ɪˈnɪʃ.ə.t̬ɪv/ uk

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/ɪˈnɪʃ.ə.tɪv/

initiative noun (NEW PLAN)

C1 [ C ]
a new plan or process to achieve something or solve a problem:
The peace initiative was welcomed by both sides.
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SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Acting and acts
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initiative noun (JUDGMENT)

C1 [ U ]
the ability to use your judgment to make decisions and do things without needing to be told what to do:
Although she was quite young, she showed a lot of initiative and was promoted to manager after a year.
I shouldn't always have to tell you what to do, use your initiative (= use your own judgment to decide what to do)!
 on your own initiative
If you do something on your own initiative, you plan it and decide to do it yourself without anyone telling you what to do.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Intelligence
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initiative noun (ADVANTAGE)

 the initiative C1 [ S ]
the power or opportunity to win an advantage:
to seize/take/lose the initiative
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Power to control
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(Definition of initiative from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

initiative | Intermediate English

initiative
noun
us

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/ɪˈnɪʃ·ə·t̬ɪv, ɪˈnɪʃ·i·ə-/

initiative noun (ABILITY TO TAKE ACTION)

[ U ]
the ability to judge what needs to be done and take action, esp. without suggestion from other people:
Lisa showed initiative on the job and was soon promoted.

initiative noun (NEW BEGINNING)

[ C ]
a new attempt to achieve a goal or solve a problem, or a new method for doing this:
The defense secretary announced a major initiative to upgrade our military preparedness.
(Definition of initiative from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

initiative | Business English

initiative
noun
uk

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/ɪˈnɪʃətɪv/ us

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[ C ]
a new plan or action to improve something or solve a problem:
a marketing/cost-cutting initiative
a diplomatic/peace initiative
an education/environmental/economic initiative
[ U ]
the ability to use your own judgment to make decisions without asking another person's advice:
take/seize/lose the initiative The group's legal advisers said they were taking the initiative to tackle online privacy issues.
Candidates for the job must be capable of working on their own initiative.
(Definition of initiative from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of initiative

initiative
In 2015, they voted on five tax initiatives and penalties for selling endangered species.
From The Seattle Times
Then we'll get more standards, brands, initiatives, and mergers.
From The Verge
More examples Fewer examples
But they would have to take the initiative.
From CNN
The president has a lot of initiatives on the table.
From NPR
He's not gaining many fans of this new initiative.
From Washington Post
Initiatives, programs, and campaigns to address homelessness in this country have come and gone.
From Huffington Post
Take the initiative to meet -- offline, in person -- the people with whom you have the most in common.
From TIME
Several policy initiatives could help to address these issues.
From Baltimore Sun
I'm the one being battled, and it has the advantage -- it's taken the initiative.
From NPR
Government interventions like industry initiatives are predicated on education and encouraging personal responsibility.
From Huffington Post
Current business issues and initiatives are the best places to find your prospect's biggest problems.
From CBS News
Though he speaks proudly of each initiative, he seems most smitten with the school.
From CNN
Its online initiative, for instance, is baffling even by the company's own low standards.
From The Verge
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with initiative

initiative

These are words often used in combination with initiative.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

bold initiative
Plague induced a widespread elite consensus that a bold initiative was required to 'clean up' the city.
From the Cambridge English Corpus  
conservation initiative
Any conservation initiative that raises the value of intact ecosystems may increase the demand of outsiders to secure rights to these ecosystems.
From the Cambridge English Corpus  
diplomatic initiative
They had the moral and diplomatic initiative in the business of peacemaking and disarmament offers.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
 
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
See all collocations with initiative

Translations of initiative

in Chinese (Traditional)
新措施, 倡議, 判斷…
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in Chinese (Simplified)
新措施, 倡议, 判断…
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in Spanish
iniciativa, iniciativa [feminine, singular]…
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in Portuguese
iniciativa, empreendimento…
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in more languages
in Japanese
in Turkish
in French
in Catalan
in Arabic
in Czech
in Danish
in Indonesian
in Thai
in Vietnamese
in Polish
in Malay
in German
in Norwegian
in Korean
in Italian
in Russian
（問題解決の）戦略, 自発性…
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girişim, teşebbüs, kendi kendine karar verebilme kabiliyeti…
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(esprit [masculine] d’) initiative, initiative [feminine], initiative…
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iniciativa…
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مُبادَرة…
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iniciativa…
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initiativ…
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inisiatif…
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การเริ่มต้น, ความริเริ่ม…
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sáng kiến, thế chủ động…
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inicjatywa…
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inisiatif…
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die Initiative…
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initiativ [neuter], pågangsmot [neuter], tiltak [neuter]…
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계획, 자주성…
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iniziativa, spirito d’iniziativa, intraprendenza…
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инициатива, почин, инициативность…
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