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inaugurate

/ɪˈnɔːɡjʊ.ɹeɪt/ verb

In Latin: auspicor Wiktionary

verb Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about inaugurate at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

  1. Commence officially.
  2. Open ceremoniously or dedicate formally.
  3. Be a precursor of.
    The fall of the Berlin Wall ushered in the post-Cold War period

Origin

Either: * borrowed from French inaugurer (“to inaugurate”), from Latin inaugurō (“to take omens from the flight of birds, to divine, practise augury; to approve, consecrate, or inaugurate on the basis of omens; to install”) with common assimilation of French -er with English -ate (verb-forming suffix) * or a Learned borrowing from Latin inaugurātus, perfect passive participle of inaugurō, see etymology at -ate; Further from in- (“against; into; on, upon; to, towards”) + augurō (“to act as an augur, interpret omens, augur; to foretell, predict; to conjecture, guess”), from augur (“soothsayer, augur”) + -ō (first conjugation verb-forming suffix) (further etymology uncertain; see the entry).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)