initiative
n. C / Un. the ability to act and make decisions without being told what to do. It also means a new plan or process started to solve a specific problem.
n. the power or opportunity to act or take charge before others do; a new plan or strategy intended to resolve a difficulty or improve a situation.
She showed great initiative by starting the project early.
The government launched a new initiative to reduce plastic waste in the city's parks.
While the CEO praised the staff's individual initiative, she emphasized that the new environmental initiative would require a coordinated effort across all departments to succeed.
From French initiative, from Medieval Latin *initiativus (“serving to initiate”), from Late Latin initiare (“to begin, to initiate”), from Latin initium (“beginning”), from ineo (“enter, begin”). By surface analysis, initiate + -ive.
Uncountable when referring to the personal quality of taking charge; countable when referring to a specific plan or program.
take the initiative oftake the initiative toWhen 'initiative' refers to the act of starting something, it is followed by an infinitive ('to do') rather than a prepositional phrase with 'of'.