Inaugural

//ɪˈnɔːɡəɹəl// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An inauguration; a formal beginning.

    "The inaugural of the President will take place in March."

  2. 2
    the ceremonial induction into a position wordnet
  3. 3
    A formal speech given at the beginning of an office.

    "In his inaugural, President Obama proclaimed 'an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics'."

  4. 4
    an address delivered at an inaugural ceremony (especially by a United States president) wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Of inauguration; as in a speech or lecture by the person being inaugurated. not-comparable

    "The University of Cape Town hosts an inaugural lecture by Professor Ian Scott […] on Wednesday at 8pm."

  2. 2
    Marking the beginning of an operation, venture, etc. not-comparable

    "2009 was the inaugural season for New York Yankees' new stadium."

Adjective
  1. 1
    serving to set in motion wordnet
  2. 2
    occurring at or characteristic of a formal investiture or induction wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
inaugural addressinaugurationinitiativeabecedarianaboriginaladdress

Example

More examples

"It was the coldest inaugural day in the nation's history."

Etymology

From French inaugural, from inaugurer, from Latin augurare (“to take omens”).

Related phrases

inaugural address

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.