1. to set up or prepare something for use; to start or begin the operation of a system or device
Usage: British English spelling; American English uses 'initializes'; commonly used in computing and technology contexts
2. to set a variable, system, or data structure to an initial or default value
Usage: technical term used in programming and computer science

Examples

• The technician initialises the new server before connecting it to the network.
• When you start the application, it initialises all necessary settings automatically.
• The program initialises the database with default values on first run.
• She initialises the equipment every morning before the lab opens.
• The system initialises the memory cache to improve performance.
• Before the experiment begins, the scientist initialises all the instruments.