What does nascent mean?
Word: Nascent
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Nascent means only just beginning to exist and not yet fully grown.
How do you spell nascent?
Syllables: nas - cent
Tricky part: The middle of the word is the trap, because one sound is written with two letters, s and c. Nasent and nacent are the common slips.
Watch out for: nasent, nacent, nasscent
Memory tip: Science began small too, so give the word the same sc pair that science has.
Nascent in a sentence
Example 1: The nascent idea for a school newspaper came from a chat at lunch.
Example 2: Her nascent talent for the sitar surprised her teacher.
Example 3: The country's nascent film industry of the 1910s produced only silent films.
Fun Fact
It comes from a Latin verb meaning to be born, the same one that lies behind nation, native and nature.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
Our town's nascant astronomy club has only six members, but it already meets on the college roof every clear Saturday night.
a) members
b) already
c) astronomy
d) nascant
Show answer
d) nascant. The word ends in ent, as decent and recent do.
Mingle-Mangle
Unscramble the jumbled word in the sentence and choose the correct word:
Anjali's sanetcn interest in pottery grew quickly once the school bought a wheel.
a) nascent
b) adjacent
c) ascent
d) descent
Show answer
a) nascent. The two n's and the lone e rule out ascent and descent, and adjacent needs a j.
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word nascent as used in the sentence:
Several nascent companies in Bengaluru are building small electric scooters.
a) developing
b) established
c) budding
d) emerging
Show answer
b) established. An established company has been running for a long time.
Spell-o-Spell
Only one of these words is spelt correctly. Choose its meaning:
1. rudimentery 2. dorment 3. burgoning 4. nascent
a) not active now but able to become active later
b) at the very start of its life and still small
c) dealing with only the basic facts of a subject
d) growing or spreading very quickly
Show answer
b) at the very start of its life and still small. Rudimentary, dormant and burgeoning each have a vowel wrong or missing in the list.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A nascent business is most likely to need ____.
a) a party for its hundredth year
b) a long record of past success
c) time, money and early support
d) more branches than it can count
Show answer
c) time, money and early support
2. Which of these is at a nascent stage?
a) a plant that has just pushed through the soil
b) a forest that has covered the hills for ages
c) a banyan that has stood for a whole century
d) a mango tree heavy with fully ripe fruit
Show answer
a) a plant that has just pushed through the soil
