Primary
''novitiate'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260125204041-00-⌔
novitiate - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
English
Noun
novitiate (plural novitiates)
- A novice.
- The period during which a novice of a religious order undergoes training.
- ✤ Three weeks after the departure of the Mandevilles, all Naples flocked to witness the profession of a young Englishwoman, a dispensation having been obtained for the novitiate.1
- The place where a novice lives and studies.
Etymology
First attested in 1517; either borrowed from Middle French noviciat, novitiat or from Medieval Latin noviciātus, novitiātus (“a novitiate”), from Latin novicius, novitius + -ātus (see -ate (forming nouns denoting a rank or office)), from novus (“new”). Sense 1 is not attested in cognates.
Pronunciation
- IPA: /nəˈvɪʃi.ət/
- Audio (Southern England): 🔊
- Hyphenation: no‧vi‧ti‧ate
Printed 2026-06-28.
(echo:: @ ⌗)
Link to original Footnotes
1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter X, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 214: ↩
Secondary
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