Originate

//əˈɹɪd͡ʒɪneɪt// adj, verb

adj, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To cause (someone or something) to be; to bring (someone or something) into existence; to produce or initiate a person or thing. transitive

    "Einstein originated the theory of relativity."

  2. 2
    bring into being wordnet
  3. 3
    To come into existence; to have origin or beginning; to spring, be derived (from, with). intransitive

    "The scheme originated with the governor and council."

  4. 4
    come into existence; take on form or shape wordnet
  5. 5
    begin a trip at a certain point, as of a plane, train, bus, etc. wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Founded on, having its origin in (something). not-comparable, obsolete, rare

    "My Testimony to and Abhorrence of every Invasion..against Christs Royal prerogative,..Originate upon and derivate from that which they call the Supremacy"

Synonyms

All synonyms
arisebegininitiateinitiatebeginarise

Example

More examples

"The agonies of the machine age do not originate from the machines as such."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Medieval Latin orīginātus, perfect passive participle of orīginō (“to begin, give rise to”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) for more), from orīgō (orīgin- in compounds) + -ō. Compare Italian originare and Spanish originar.

Etymology 2

From Medieval Latin orīginātus, see Etymology 1 and -ate (adjective-forming suffix) for more. By surface analysis, origin + -ate.

Related phrases

originating summonsself-originated

More for "originate"

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