Initiator

noun

noun ·5 syllables ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    One who initiates.
  2. 2
    a person who initiates a course of action wordnet
  3. 3
    A substance that initiates a chain reaction or polymerization.
  4. 4
    A component of a nuclear weapon that produces a burst of neutrons to start the chain reaction.

    "‘This, er, initiator of polonium and lithium, would it be used in an anti-personnel bomb?’ he asked. ‘Oh yes, you could say so, boyo,’ replied the Welshman. ‘An initiator, you see, is what sets off a nuke.’"

  5. 5
    A task (in a mainframe computer) that initiates multiple jobs.
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  1. 6
    A material whose presence in the body eventually leads to cancer.

Synonyms

All synonyms
instigatoragitatorancestorsapprenticearchitectartificer

Example

More examples

"Zamenhof, the initiator of Esperanto, is a benefactor of mankind!"

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin initiātor. By surface analysis, initiate + or.

Related phrases

pyrotechnic initiatorchain reaction

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