Both Uses of
initiative
in
Babbitt
- Fellow's own fault if he doesn't show the initiative to up and beat it to the city, like we done—did.†
Chpt 8 *
- Of course the average fellow in Zenith has got more Individual Initiative than the fourflushers here, but I got to hand it to New York.†
Chpt 11
Definition:
-
(initiative) the ability and tendency to determine what should be done and to start doing it without instruction
or:
to start somethingThe exact meaning of starting something depends upon the context. For example:- "She did it on her own initiative." -- started it without anyone telling her to
- "She seized the initiative." -- started actions that force others to react to her rather than her having to react to them
- "the peace initiative" -- a plan or the start of actions to bring about something
- "a ballot initiative" -- a proposed law that is started by citizen petition rather than by the legislature (applicable in many jurisdictions such as California)