From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishnovitiateno‧vi‧ti‧ate, noviciate /nəʊˈvɪʃiət, nə-, -ʃieɪt $ noʊˈvɪʃət/ noun [countable] RRthe period of being a novice
Examples from the Corpus
novitiate• His thoughts drifted forward in time from his novitiate.• Ed had entered the Jesuit novitiate in the summer of 1975, just one month after his high school graduation.• He entered the Jesuit novitiate on 26 May 1583.• And so, it began: after the novitiate, classical and humane studies, and then philosophy.• He completed, took orders and entered the novitiate all within a couple of years.• But when be was seventeen, he entered the novitiate.• No longer could he fall back on the comforting routines of the novitiate to give structure to his life.• The novitiate over, they are permitted to make their first vows. 