MEANING
1. To begin or come into existence in a particular place, situation, or source.
2. To create an idea, practice, or activity and bring it into existence.
3. To arrange and issue a new loan or investment.
Use it for
tracing where an idea or practice began; distinguishing historical origin from present function; identifying a source without assuming it explains every later featureSeparates a development’s source from the act of bringing it into existence. Academic functions: Causation / Relationships.
Words that belong together
- originate in a context
- originate from a source
- a practice that originated abroad
On the page
The concept originated in a debate about institutions but later acquired a wider application.
Tracing where a practice originated does not fully explain why it persisted.
The article separates the group that originated the method from later researchers who refined it.
A critic can popularize an interpretation without having originated it.
The study distinguishes institutions that originate loans from those that later service them.
Nearby words
Word forms
- Base
- originate
- Past tense
- originated
- Past participle
- originated
- Present participle
- originating
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- originate
- Present continuous
- am/is/are originating
- Present perfect
- have/has originated
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been originating
- Past
- originated
- Past continuous
- was/were originating
- Past perfect
- had originated
- Past perfect continuous
- had been originating
- Future
- will originate
- Future continuous
- will be originating
- Future perfect
- will have originated
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been originating
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Intransitive originate in/from + source; transitive originate + idea, practice or loan. Third-person originates; past/participle originated; present participle originating. Register: formal. Commonness: moderately common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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