: coming or having recently come into existence
a nascent middle class
her nascent singing career
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The Origin of Nascent
Nascent comes from nascens, the present participle of the Latin verb nasci, which means "to be born." It is related to words such as nation, native, nature, and innate.
Examples of nascent in a Sentence
In the mid-'60s, Toronto was home to Yorkville, a gathering spot for draft resisters, a petri dish for a nascent coffeehouse and rock scene similar to the one developing in New York's Greenwich Village.
—
Mike Sager, Rolling Stone, 27 June 1996
It was almost 80 years ago that the Wright brothers from Ohio ventured to Kitty Hawk for the uplift its steady winds offered their nascent passion, airplanes.
—Robert R. Yandle, Popular Photography, March 1993
A few centuries late, when the nascent science of geology was gathering evidence for the earth's enormous antiquity, some advocates of biblical literalism revived this old argument for our entire planet.
—Stephen Jay Gould, Granta 16, Summer 1985
The actress is now focusing on her nascent singing career.
one of the leading figures in the nascent civil-rights movement
Mike Sager, Rolling Stone, 27 June 1996
It was almost 80 years ago that the Wright brothers from Ohio ventured to Kitty Hawk for the uplift its steady winds offered their nascent passion, airplanes.
—Robert R. Yandle, Popular Photography, March 1993
A few centuries late, when the nascent science of geology was gathering evidence for the earth's enormous antiquity, some advocates of biblical literalism revived this old argument for our entire planet.
—Stephen Jay Gould, Granta 16, Summer 1985
The actress is now focusing on her nascent singing career.
one of the leading figures in the nascent civil-rights movement
Recent Examples on the Web
The nascent Internet of the age had told us that the capybara was a social creature—as many rodents are—and that having a single capy, without access to other animals, much less to his own kind, was unusual.
—Gary Shteyngart, The New Yorker, 27 Jan. 2025
Without corporate and national investment in CDR technologies, the nascent industry cannot scale to meet future demands.
—Phil De Luna, Forbes, 23 Jan. 2025
On Tuesday, the acting head of the Securities and Exchange Commission launched an effort to develop a regulatory framework for the nascent asset class.
—Hugh Son, CNBC, 23 Jan. 2025
So far 30 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized online betting on sports, and the nascent U.S. industry is worth $10 billion and growing.
—Allison Parshall, Scientific American, 23 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for nascent 
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Gary Shteyngart, The New Yorker, 27 Jan. 2025
Without corporate and national investment in CDR technologies, the nascent industry cannot scale to meet future demands.
—Phil De Luna, Forbes, 23 Jan. 2025
On Tuesday, the acting head of the Securities and Exchange Commission launched an effort to develop a regulatory framework for the nascent asset class.
—Hugh Son, CNBC, 23 Jan. 2025
So far 30 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized online betting on sports, and the nascent U.S. industry is worth $10 billion and growing.
—Allison Parshall, Scientific American, 23 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for nascent
Articles Related to nascent
Dictionary Entries Near nascent
Cite this Entry
“Nascent.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nascent. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
1
: coming or having recently come into existence : beginning to develop
nascent polypeptide chains
2
: of, relating to, or being an atom or substance at the moment of its formation usually with the implication of greater reactivity than otherwise
nascent hydrogen
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