From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishinitiativei‧ni‧tia‧tive /ɪˈnɪʃətɪv/ ●●○ W3 AWL noun 1 decisions [uncountable]INDEPENDENT PERSON the ability to make decisions and take action without waiting for someone to tell you what to do I wish my son would show more initiative. Don’t keep asking me for advice. Use your initiative. Lt. Carlos was not obeying orders. He acted on his own initiative (=he was not told what to do).2 plan [countable]PLAN an important new plan or process to achieve a particular aim or to solve a particular problem a government initiative to help exporters an education initiativeinitiative for a new initiative for peace in the Middle East► see thesaurus at plan3 → the initiative4 law [countable] lawSCL a process by which ordinary citizens can officially suggest a change in the law by signing a petition
Examples from the Corpus
acted on ... own initiative• It was nearly always organised by a government, although some torturers acted on their own initiatives.From Longman Business Dictionaryinitiativei‧ni‧tia‧tive /ɪˈnɪʃətɪv/ noun1[uncountable] the ability to make decisions and take action without waiting for someone to tell you what to doHe encourages initiative and new ideas.You must be prepared to work on your own initiative.2[countable] an important new plan or process, done to achieve a particular aim or to solve a particular problemThe cost-cutting initiatives are expected to result in savings of $300 million.an initiative to attract new customers 