incipient

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

incipient
    adj 1: only partly in existence; imperfectly formed; "incipient
           civil disorder"; "an incipient tumor"; "a vague inchoate
           idea" [syn: {incipient}, {inchoate}]

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Incipient \In*cip"i*ent\, a. [L. incipiens, p. pr. of incipere
   to begin. See {Inception}.]
   Beginning to be, or to show itself; commencing; initial; as,
   the incipient stage of a fever; incipient light of day. --
   {In*cip"i*ent*ly}, adv.
   [1913 Webster]

from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

69 Moby Thesaurus words for "incipient":
      Lilliputian, Tom Thumb, abecedarian, aboriginal, antenatal,
      autochthonous, beginning, budding, creative, dumpy, dwarf, dwarfed,
      dwarfish, elemental, elementary, elfin, embryonic, fetal,
      formative, foundational, fundamental, gestatory, in embryo,
      in its infancy, in the bud, inaugural, inceptive, inchoate,
      inchoative, incunabular, infant, infantile, initial, initiative,
      initiatory, introductory, inventive, meager, midget, nanoid,
      nascent, natal, original, parturient, postnatal, pregnant,
      prenatal, primal, primary, prime, primeval, primitive, primogenial,
      procreative, pygmy, rudimental, rudimentary, runty, scraggy,
      scrubby, shriveled, shrunk, shrunken, squat, stunted, undersize,
      undersized, ur, wizened