Another word for origin

a-z

Noun

A point of origination

See also:

start

The initial stage of a developmental process

start
1. To begin a movement, activity, or undertaking:
2. To move on the initial part of a journey:
3. To have a beginning; commence:
- Go to Dictionary
spring
1. To move upward or forward in a single quick motion or a series of such motions; leap:
2. To move suddenly, especially because of being resilient or moved by a spring:
3. To start doing something suddenly:
- Go to Dictionary
outset
1. The initial stage of something; the beginning:
- Go to Dictionary
opening
1. The act or an instance of becoming open or being made to open:
2. A gap, breach, or aperture:
3. A clearing in the woods.
- Go to Dictionary
onset
1. The beginning or start of something:
2. The part of a syllable that precedes the nucleus. In the word nucleus (no͝o&STRESS;klē-əs), the onset of the first syllable is (n), the onset of the second syllable is (kl), and the last syllable has no onset.
3. An attack by military forces; an assault.
- Go to Dictionary
nascency
1. A state of incipiency; a quality of nascence.
- Go to Dictionary
nascence
1. A coming into being; a beginning:
- Go to Dictionary
inception
1. The beginning of something, such as an undertaking; a commencement.
- Go to Dictionary
genesis
1. The coming into being of something; the origin.
- Go to Dictionary
dawn
1. The time each morning at which daylight first begins.
2. A first appearance; a beginning:
3. To begin to become light in the morning.
- Go to Dictionary
commencement
1. A beginning; a start.
2. A ceremony at which academic degrees or diplomas are conferred.
3. The day on which such a ceremony occurs.
- Go to Dictionary
birth
1. The emergence and separation of offspring from the body of the mother.
2. The act or process of bearing young; parturition:
3. The circumstances or conditions relating to this event, as its time or location:
- Go to Dictionary
beginning
1. The act or process of bringing or being brought into being; a start:
2. The time when something begins or is begun:
3. The place where something begins or is begun:
- Go to Dictionary

See also:

start

One's ancestors or their character or one's ancestral derivation

stock
1. A supply accumulated for future use; a store.
2. The total merchandise kept on hand by a merchant, commercial establishment, warehouse, or manufacturer.
3. All the animals kept or raised on a farm; livestock.
- Go to Dictionary
seed
1. A mature plant ovule containing an embryo.
2. A small dry fruit, spore, or other propagative plant part.
3. Seeds considered as a group:
- Go to Dictionary
pedigree
1. A line of ancestors; a lineage.
2. A list of ancestors; a family tree.
3. A chart of an individual's ancestors used in human genetics to analyze Mendelian inheritance of certain traits, especially of familial diseases.
- Go to Dictionary
parentage
1. Descent from parents; lineage:
2. The state or relationship of being a parent.
3. Derivation from a source; origin.
- Go to Dictionary
lineage
1. Direct descent from a particular ancestor; ancestry.
2. Derivation.
3. The descendants of a common ancestor considered to be the founder of the line.
- Go to Dictionary
line
1. A geometric figure formed by a point moving along a fixed direction and the reverse direction.
2. A thin continuous mark, as that made by a pen, pencil, or brush applied to a surface.
3. A similar mark cut or scratched into a surface.
- Go to Dictionary
genealogy
1. A record or table of the descent of a person, family, or group from an ancestor or ancestors; a family tree.
2. Direct descent from an ancestor; lineage or pedigree.
3. The study or investigation of ancestry and family histories.
- Go to Dictionary
family
1. A fundamental social group in society typically consisting of one or two parents and their children.
2. The children of one of these groups:
3. A group of persons related by descent or marriage:
- Go to Dictionary
extraction
1. The act of extracting or the condition of being extracted.
2. Something obtained by extracting; an extract.
3. Origin; lineage:
- Go to Dictionary
descent
1. The act or an instance of descending:
2. A way down:
3. A downward incline or passage; a slope:
- Go to Dictionary
bloodline
1. Direct line of descent; pedigree.
- Go to Dictionary
blood
1. The fluid consisting of plasma, blood cells, and platelets that is circulated by the heart through the vertebrate vascular system, carrying oxygen and nutrients to and waste materials away from all body tissues.
2. A similar fluid in animals other than vertebrates.
3. The juice or sap of certain plants.
- Go to Dictionary
birth
1. The emergence and separation of offspring from the body of the mother.
2. The act or process of bearing young; parturition:
3. The circumstances or conditions relating to this event, as its time or location:
- Go to Dictionary
ancestry
1. Ancestral descent or lineage.
2. Ancestors considered as a group.
- Go to Dictionary

See also:

precede

kin

Another word for origin

Noun

The act of beginning

invention
1. The act or process of inventing:
2. A new device, method, or process developed from study and experimentation:
3. A mental fabrication, especially a falsehood.
- Go to Dictionary
devising
1. the act of creating a plan or some object, especially a will
2. Present participle of devise.
- Go to Dictionary
molding
1. The act or process of molding.
2. Something that is molded.
3. An embellishment in strip form, made of wood or other structural material, that is used to decorate or finish a surface, such as the wall of a room or building or the surface of a door or piece of furniture.
- Go to Dictionary
fashioning
1. Present participle of fashion.
2. The act or process of fashioning something; manufacture.
- Go to Dictionary
forming
1. Present participle of form.
- Go to Dictionary
inauguration
1. Formal induction into office.
2. A formal beginning or introduction.
- Go to Dictionary
launching
1. Present participle of launch.
2. The act by which something is launched; a launch.
- Go to Dictionary
induction
1. The act or an instance of inducting.
2. A ceremony or formal act by which a person is inducted, as into office or military service.
3. The generation of electromotive force in a closed circuit by a varying magnetic flux through the circuit.
- Go to Dictionary
creation
1. The act of creating.
2. The fact or state of having been created.
3. The act of investing with a new office or title.
- Go to Dictionary
first appearance
- Go to Dictionary
ascent
1. The act or process of rising or going upward.
2. An advancement, especially in social status.
3. An upward slope or incline.
- Go to Dictionary
authoring
1. Present participle of author.
2. The process of creating the content of a document or other content item, i.e., writing or composition.
3. The result of this process; a writing or composition.
- Go to Dictionary
origination
1. (uncountable) The process of bringing something into existence.
2. (countable) The act of bringing something into existence.
- Go to Dictionary
foundation
1. The act of founding, especially the establishment of an institution with provisions for future maintenance.
2. The basis on which a thing stands, is founded, or is supported.
3. Funds for the perpetual support of an institution; an endowment.
- Go to Dictionary
first step
- Go to Dictionary
first move
- Go to Dictionary
onset
1. The beginning or start of something:
2. The part of a syllable that precedes the nucleus. In the word nucleus (no͝o&STRESS;klē-əs), the onset of the first syllable is (n), the onset of the second syllable is (kl), and the last syllable has no onset.
3. An attack by military forces; an assault.
- Go to Dictionary
outbreak
1. A sudden increase:
2. A sudden eruption; an outburst:
- Go to Dictionary
entry
1. The act or an instance of entering.
2. The privilege or right of entering.
3. The act of entering the water in completing a dive.
- Go to Dictionary
ingress
1. A going in or entering.
2. Right or permission to enter.
3. A means or place of entering.
- Go to Dictionary
entrance
1. The act or an instance of entering.
2. A means or point by which to enter.
3. Permission or power to enter; admission:
- Go to Dictionary
forging
1. something forged; esp., a forged piece of metal
2. the act of one that forges
- Go to Dictionary
embarkation
1. The act of embarking.
2. The process of loading military personnel and vehicles etc into ships or aircraft.
- Go to Dictionary
introduction
1. The act or process of introducing or the state of being introduced.
2. A means, such as a personal letter, of presenting one person to another.
3. Something recently introduced; an innovation:
- Go to Dictionary
dawn
1. The time each morning at which daylight first begins.
2. A first appearance; a beginning:
3. To begin to become light in the morning.
- Go to Dictionary
nativity
1. Birth, especially the place, conditions, or circumstances of being born.
2. The birth of Jesus.
3. A representation, such as a painting, of Jesus just after birth.
- Go to Dictionary
initiation
1. The act or process of initiating something.
2. The process of being initiated.
3. The condition of being initiated.
- Go to Dictionary
inception
1. The beginning of something, such as an undertaking; a commencement.
- Go to Dictionary
incipience
1. A beginning, or first stage
- Go to Dictionary
outset
1. The initial stage of something; the beginning:
- Go to Dictionary
commencement
1. A beginning; a start.
2. A ceremony at which academic degrees or diplomas are conferred.
3. The day on which such a ceremony occurs.
- Go to Dictionary
alpha
1. The first letter of the Greek alphabet.
2. The first of a series; the beginning.
3. The brightest star in a constellation.
- Go to Dictionary
genesis
1. The coming into being of something; the origin.
- Go to Dictionary
starting
1. Present participle of start.
2. The act of something that starts.
- Go to Dictionary
start
1. To begin a movement, activity, or undertaking:
2. To move on the initial part of a journey:
3. To have a beginning; commence:
- Go to Dictionary
rise
1. To assume a standing position after lying, sitting, or kneeling.
2. To get out of bed:
3. To move from a lower to a higher position; ascend:
- Go to Dictionary

See also:

birth

Antonyms:

The place or time of beginning

Antonyms:

Cause

inspiration
1. The excitement of the mind or emotions to a high level of feeling or activity:
2. The condition of being so excited:
3. The quality of being so excited, as manifested in something:
- Go to Dictionary
activation
1. Making active and effective.
2. (physics) The process of making a radioisotope by bombarding a stable element with neutrons or protons.
- Go to Dictionary
inducement
1. Something that helps bring about an action or a desired result; an incentive:
2. The act or process of inducing:
3. Misrepresentation that leads a person to enter into a contract or transaction with a false understanding of the risks and obligations:
- Go to Dictionary
motive
1. An emotion, desire, physiological need, or similar impulse that acts as an incitement to action.
2. A motif in art, literature, or music.
3. Causing or able to cause motion:
- Go to Dictionary
antecedent
1. Going before; preceding.
2. One that precedes another.
3. A preceding occurrence, cause, or event.
- Go to Dictionary
spring
1. To move upward or forward in a single quick motion or a series of such motions; leap:
2. To move suddenly, especially because of being resilient or moved by a spring:
3. To start doing something suddenly:
- Go to Dictionary
first act
- Go to Dictionary
root
1. The usually underground portion of a plant that lacks buds, leaves, or nodes and serves as support, draws minerals and water from the surrounding soil, and sometimes stores food.
2. Any of various other underground plant parts, especially an underground stem such as a rhizome, corm, or tuber.
3. The embedded part of an organ or structure such as a hair, tooth, or nerve, that serves as a base or support.
- Go to Dictionary
occasion
1. An event or happening, or the time of an event or happening:
2. A significant event, especially a large or important social gathering:
3. A favorable or appropriate time or juncture:
- Go to Dictionary
remote cause
1. See cause. See cause.
- Go to Dictionary
ultimate cause
- Go to Dictionary
generator
1. One that generates, especially a machine that converts mechanical energy into electrical energy.
2. An apparatus that generates vapor or gas.
3. A circuit that generates a specified waveform.
- Go to Dictionary
prime motive
- Go to Dictionary
influence
1. A power affecting a person, thing, or course of events, especially one that operates without any direct or apparent effort:
2. Power to sway or affect based on prestige, wealth, ability, or position:
3. A person who exerts such power:
- Go to Dictionary
source
1. A person or thing from which something comes into being or is derived or obtained:
2. The point of origin of a stream or river.
3. One, such as a person or document, that supplies information:
- Go to Dictionary
impulse
1. An impelling force; an impetus.
2. The motion produced by such a force.
3. A sudden wish or urge that prompts an unpremeditated act or feeling; an abrupt inclination:
- Go to Dictionary
causation
1. The act or process of causing.
2. A cause.
3. Causality.
- Go to Dictionary
causality
1. The principle of or relationship between cause and effect.
2. A causal agency, force, or quality.
- Go to Dictionary
mainspring
1. The principal spring in a mechanical device, especially a watch or clock, that drives the mechanism by uncoiling.
2. The chief motivating force:
- Go to Dictionary
leaven
1. An agent, such as yeast, that causes batter or dough to rise, especially by fermentation.
2. An element, influence, or agent that works subtly to lighten, enliven, or modify a whole.
3. To add a rising agent to.
- Go to Dictionary
agent
1. One that acts or has the power or authority to act.
2. One empowered to act for or represent another:
3. A means by which something is done or caused; an instrument.
- Go to Dictionary
determinant
1. Determinative.
2. An influencing or determining element or factor:
3. The value computed from a square matrix of numbers by a rule of combining products of the matrix entries and that characterizes the solvablitity of simultaneous linear equations. Its absolute value can be interpreted as an area or volume.
- Go to Dictionary
producer
1. One that produces, especially a person or organization that produces goods or services for sale.
2. A person who supervises and controls the administrative, financial, and commercial aspects of staging a show or performance or of creating and distributing a movie or audio recording.
3. A furnace that manufactures producer gas.
- Go to Dictionary
progenitor
1. A direct ancestor.
2. An originator of a line of descent; a precursor.
3. An originator; a founder:
- Go to Dictionary
begetter
1. A procreator; one who begets.
2. (figuratively) An originator; a creator.
- Go to Dictionary
primum mobile (Latin)
- Go to Dictionary
prime-mover
1. One regarded as the initial source of energy directed toward a goal:
2. The initial force, such as electricity, wind, or gravity, that engages or moves a machine.
3. A machine or mechanism that converts natural energy into work.
- Go to Dictionary
heart
1. The chambered muscular organ in vertebrates that pumps blood received from the veins into the arteries, thereby maintaining the flow of blood through the entire circulatory system.
2. A similarly functioning structure in invertebrates.
3. The area that is the approximate location of the heart in the body; the breast.
- Go to Dictionary
creator
1. One that creates:
2. God. Used with the.
- Go to Dictionary
author
1. The writer of a book, article, or other text.
2. One who practices writing as a profession.
3. One who writes or constructs an electronic document or system, such as a website.
- Go to Dictionary
First Great Cause
- Go to Dictionary
first-cause
1. a primary cause of anything; source
2. God as the uncaused cause of all being
- Go to Dictionary
nucleus
1. A central or essential part around which other parts are gathered or grouped; a core:
2. Something regarded as a basis for future development and growth; a kernel:
3. A membrane-bound organelle within a eukaryotic cell that contains most of the cell's genetic material. DNA transcription takes place in the nucleus.
- Go to Dictionary
element
1. A fundamental, essential, or irreducible constituent of a composite entity.
2. The basic assumptions or principles of a subject.
3. A member of a set.
- Go to Dictionary
principle
1. A basic truth, law, or assumption:
2. A rule or standard, especially of good behavior:
3. The collectivity of moral or ethical standards or judgments:
- Go to Dictionary
embryo
1. The collection of cells that has developed from the fertilized egg of a vertebrate animal, before all the major organs have developed.
2. A collection of such cells of a human, especially from implantation in the uterine wall through the eighth week of development.
3. The young sporophytic plant contained within a seed or an archegonium.
- Go to Dictionary
sperm
1. A male gamete, such as a spermatozoon of an animal or one of the cells or nuclei produced by a pollen grain of a plant.
2. Semen.
- Go to Dictionary
egg
1. A female gamete; an ovum.
2. The round or oval female reproductive body of various animals, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, and insects, consisting usually of an embryo surrounded by nutrient material and a protective covering.
3. The oval, thin-shelled reproductive body of a bird, especially that of a hen, used as food.
- Go to Dictionary
raison d'Ãªtre (French)
- Go to Dictionary
genesis
1. The coming into being of something; the origin.
- Go to Dictionary
ancestor
1. A person from whom one is descended, especially if more remote than a grandparent; a forebear.
2. A forerunner or predecessor.
3. The person from whom an estate has been inherited.
- Go to Dictionary
parent
1. A female person whose egg unites with a sperm or a male person whose sperm unites with an egg, resulting in the conception of a child or the birth of a child.
2. A female person who is pregnant with or gives birth to a child except when someone else has legal rights to the child.
3. A person who adopts a child.
- Go to Dictionary
ancestry
1. Ancestral descent or lineage.
2. Ancestors considered as a group.
- Go to Dictionary
parentage
1. Descent from parents; lineage:
2. The state or relationship of being a parent.
3. Derivation from a source; origin.
- Go to Dictionary
stock
1. A supply accumulated for future use; a store.
2. The total merchandise kept on hand by a merchant, commercial establishment, warehouse, or manufacturer.
3. All the animals kept or raised on a farm; livestock.
- Go to Dictionary
germ
1. A small mass of protoplasm or cells from which a new organism or one of its parts may develop.
2. The earliest form of an organism; a seed, bud, or spore.
3. A microorganism, especially a pathogen.
- Go to Dictionary
seed
1. A mature plant ovule containing an embryo.
2. A small dry fruit, spore, or other propagative plant part.
3. Seeds considered as a group:
- Go to Dictionary

Antonyms:

Synonym Study

Root suggests an origin so deep and basic as to be the ultimate cause from which something stems to get to the root of the matter
Inception is specifically applied to the beginning of an undertaking, organization, etc. Smith headed the business from its inception
Beginning is the basic general term for a starting point or place the beginning of a quarrel
Source is applied to the point or place from which something arises, comes, or develops the sun is our source of energy
Origin is applied to that from which a person or thing has its very beginning the origin of a word

© WEBSTER’S NEW WORLD® ROGET’S A-Z THESAURUS by Charlton Laird and the editors of Webster’s New World dictionaries. Copyright © 1999 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Another word for origin

Another word for origin

Synonym Study

Sentence Examples

Related Articles

Words near origin in the Thesaurus