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The Origin of Nascent
Nascent descends from the Latin verb nasci, meaning “to be born,” as does many an English word, from nation and nature to innate and renaissance. But rather than describing the birth of literal babies—as in pups, kits, hoglets, et al.—nascent is applied to things (such as careers or technologies) that have recently formed or come into existence, as when scholar Danille K. Taylor-Guthrie wrote of Toni Morrison being “an integral part of a nascent group of black women writers who would alter the course of African American, American, and world literature.”
Examples of nascent in a Sentence
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
Sam Goldner, Pitchfork, 2 Apr. 2026
As a biracial man moving through the West in the first half of the nineteenth century, Beckwourth found freedom in nascent towns and mining camps from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific coast.
—Literary Hub, 1 Apr. 2026
In her new role, McLarty will report in to the head of global communications, Brooke Robertson, working across Paramount’s film and television studios, as well as the nascent sports entertainment group.
—Mia Galuppo, HollywoodReporter, 1 Apr. 2026
McLeod eventually moved away, became a nurse, and learned of the then-nascent field of cancer genetics.
—Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic, 31 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for nascent
Cite this Entry
“Nascent.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nascent. Accessed 3 Apr. 2026.
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