Definition of "initiation" []

• The act or an instance of initiating. (noun)
• The process of being initiated. (noun)
• The condition of being initiated. (noun)
• A ceremony, ritual, test, or period of instruction with which a new member is admitted to an organization or office or to knowledge. (noun)
• The condition of being knowledgeable. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The most exalted initiation is also called "the fourth initiation" or "the word initiation" The previous great wisdom-gnosis initiation empowers the disciple to achieve the eleventh bodhisattva stage."
• "Sixth is the name initiation, analogous to the naming of the child."
• "The analogy was only partial: for boys the term applied to them while they were involved in initiation ceremonies and not after the * mlao ceremonies."