| 释义 |
▪ I. initiative, n.|ɪˈnɪʃɪətɪv|
[a. F. initiative (1567 in Hatz.-Darm.), f. as initiative a.]
1. That which initiates, begins, or originates; the first step in some process or enterprise; hence the act, or action, of initiating or taking the first step or lead; beginning, commencement, origination.
on one's own initiative, by one's own origination.
1793W. Godwin Enq. Pol. Justice iv. viii. 351 A sensation of pain was the initiative, and put my intellectual powers into action. 1809–10Coleridge Friend (1837) III. 118 From the absence of the leading thought, which, borrowing a phrase from the nomenclature of legislation, I may not inaptly call the initiative. 1818― Method in Encycl. Metrop. (1847) 7 There are many marked differences between Mathematical and Physical studies; but in both a previous act and conception of the Mind, or what we have called an initiative, is indispensably necessary, even to the mere semblance of Method. 1858J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. (1873) III. iii. iv. 324 Theodoret's visits to Antioch..were not made on his own initiative. 1882Farrar Early Chr. II. 505 Men who had followed the noble initiative of St. Paul, and who refused to receive anything from the Gentiles to whom they preached.
b. to take the initiative (F. prendre l'initiative, 1567 in Hatz.-Darm.): to take the lead, make the first step, originate some action.
1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Manners Wks. (Bohn) II. 46 He has stamina; he can take the initiative in emergencies. 1858Buckle Civiliz. (1873) II. viii. 570 No reform can produce real good, unless it is the work of public opinion, and unless the people themselves take the initiative.
2. The power, right, or function of initiating or originating something. Hence to possess or have the initiative.
1793W. Godwin Enq. Pol. Justice i. vii. 53 Sensation is of some moment in the affair. It possesses the initiative. Ibid. v. xx. 544 The legislative assembly, whether it possesses the initiative, or a power of control only, in executive affairs. 1802Morn. Chron. in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. (1803) VI. 302 If..Mr. Henry Addington is to have the initiative in the Docks. 1842Brande Dict. Sci., etc. s.v., That branch of the legislature to which belongs of right the power to propose measures of a particular class is said to have the initiative with respect to those measures. 1844Lever T. Burke (1857) II. 113 The initiative lay with you.
b. spec., Pol. Sci. The right of a citizen or defined number of citizens, outside the Legislature, to originate legislation, as has been established in some of the Swiss Cantons since 1869–70, and in Switzerland as a Federal Republic since 1874.
1889Adams & Cunningham Swiss Confed. vi. 80 Both Referendum and Initiative are institutions which have grown up gradually in the Cantons, spreading from one to another. 1891Speaker 11 July 36/1 The Initiative, or right of a body of citizens outside the Legislature to initiate proposals for the abolition, alteration, or enactment of laws. 1898Hazell's Annual 643 (Switzerland) The principles of the Referendum and of the Initiative are in force. The latter signifies the right of any 50,000 citizens to demand a direct popular vote on any constitutional question.
▪ II. initiative, a.|ɪˈnɪʃɪətɪv|
[f. L. initiāt-, ppl. stem of initiāre to initiate + -ive.]
1. Characterized by initiating; having the function, power, or faculty of beginning or originating something; of or relating to initiation, initiatory.
1642[implied in initiatively]. 1795Hel. M. Williams Lett. France I. i. (Jod.), The initiative term of captivity and death. 1808Bentham Sc. Reform 108 Authority, inquisitorial and initiative. 1849Mitchell Battle Summer (1852) 118 It was initiative, as its makers hoped, to a higher progress. 1874Symonds Sk. Italy & Greece (1898) I. i. 5 At the time of Rousseau's greatness the French people were initiative.
†2. = initiated 2. Obs. (Perh. an error.)
1656Blount Glossogr., Initiative, Initiated (initiatus), which hath ended his Apprentiship, or is a young beginner in the first Principles; licensed or admitted to. |
