adverb · neutral
initially
/ɪˈnɪʃəli/i·NI·shi·al·ly
at the beginning; at the first stage of a process or situation
Examples
“Initially, I refused the offer, but I changed my mind after thinking it over.”
“The project was initially planned for 2019, but delays pushed it back.”
“Initially, students found the task hard, then they adapted.”
Band 8 sentence
“Initially, the committee resisted the proposal, but after further evidence they endorsed it.”
Collocations
- initially + past simple (e.g. initially believed, initially planned)
- initial plan
- initially intended to
Word family
Common mistakes
Initial, we decided to cancel the trip.→Initially, we decided to cancel the trip.
We initial planned the programme in 2018.→We initially planned the programme in 2018.
Say it for a higher band
5first→6at first→7+initially
Synonyms
at first
originally
Easily confused
initial
“The initial results were promising.”
Related words
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In Sequence
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