origin

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

n. beginning, cause, commencement; descent, source, fountainhead, derivation, rise, ancestry.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [The act of beginning]

Syn. rise, start, starting, genesis, alpha, commencement, outset, incipience, inception, initiation, nativity, dawn, introduction, embarkation, forging, entrance, ingress, entry, outbreak, onset, first move, first step, foundation, origination, authoring, ascent, first appearance, creation, induction, launching, inauguration, forming, fashioning, molding, devising, invention; see also birth 1 .

Ant. end*, close, termination.

2. [The place or time of beginning]

Syn. source, root, beginning, inception, spring, issue, fountain, inlet, derivation, etymology, provenance, provenience, stem, shoot, twig, sapling, portal, door, gate, gateway, fountainhead, wellspring, springhead, font, fount, well, fons et origo (Latin), birthplace, square one*, omphalos, cradle, nest, womb, hotbed, reservoir, forge, dawn, infancy, babyhood, childhood, youth.

Ant. result*, outcome, issue.

3. [Cause]

Syn. seed, germ, stock, parentage, ancestry, parent, ancestor, genesis, raison d'être (French), egg, sperm, embryo, principle, element, nucleus, first cause, First Great Cause, author, creator, heart, prime mover, primum mobile (Latin), begetter, progenitor, producer, determinant, agent, leaven, mainspring, causality, causation, impulse, source, influence, prime motive, generator, ultimate cause, remote cause, occasion, root, first act, spring, antecedent, motive, inducement, activation, inspiration.

Ant. result*, consequence, conclusion.

Syn.- origin is applied to that from which a person or thing has its very beginning [ the origin of a word ] ; source is applied to the point or place from which something arises, comes, or develops [ the sun is our source of energy ] ; beginning is the basic general term for a starting point or place [ the beginning of a quarrel ] ; inception is specifically applied to the beginning of an undertaking, organization, etc. [ Smith headed the business from its inception] ; root suggests an origin so deep and basic as to be the ultimate cause from which something stems [ to get to the root of the matter ]

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.

1. inception source, root, birth, beginning, genesis, commencement, start, fountain.

2. parentage ancestry, lineage, pedigree, extraction, descent, line.

ANT.: 1. end, death, closing

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun 1. A point of origination: beginning, derivation, fount, fountain, fountainhead, mother, parent, provenance, provenience, root1, root-stock, source, spring, well1. See START. 2. The initial stage of a developmental process: beginning, birth, commencement, dawn, genesis, inception, nascence, nascency, onset, opening, outset, spring, start. See START. 3. One's ancestors or their character or one's ancestral derivation: ancestry, birth, blood, bloodline, descent, extraction, family, genealogy, line, lineage, parentage, pedigree, seed, stock. See KIN, PRECEDE.