3 uses
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Definition
the ability and tendency to determine what should be done and to start doing it without instruction
or:
to start something
or:
to start something
The 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)
- In the famous nineteenth-century novels of Horatio Alger, young boys born into poverty rise to riches through a combination of pluck and initiative.Chapter 1 (19% in)
- But she had gone to work as a seamstress at the age of fifteen and had become a prominent garment union organizer, and what you learn in that world is that through your own powers of persuasion and initiative, you can take your kids to Carnegie Hall.Chapter 5 (89% in)
- They take initiative.Chapter 7 (94% in)
There are no more uses of "initiative" in Outliers.
Typical Usage
(best examples)