Incept
[in-SEPT]
Part of speech: verb
Origin: Latin, 16th century
1.
Graduate from a university with an academic degree.
Examples of Incept in a sentence
"Zander’s plan is to incept with his business degree as quickly as possible and begin working immediately."
"Though I incepted from university with a degree in philosophy, it was quite difficult to find a job that called for that field of study."
About Incept
“Incept” is based on the Latin prefix “incept-” and the verb “incipere,” both of which refer to beginnings. The term became explicitly about graduating from a university in the 19th century.
Did you Know?
Even before the 2010 film “Inception,” the noun was far more common in English than the verb “to incept.” “Inception” describes the beginning or the creation of something, so it makes sense to guess “incept” means “to begin” or “to create” — and the word did indeed carry this meaning until the early 19th century. However, since the 19th century, “to incept” has meant specifically “to complete a university degree” — in particular, a degree of Master or Doctor from Oxford or Cambridge University in the United Kingdom. Today, “incept” is used only to describe graduation from a university with a degree.
