diff --git a/packages/nimble/R/BUGS_modelDef.R b/packages/nimble/R/BUGS_modelDef.R
index 78ece52b2..547fa8c5a 100644
--- a/packages/nimble/R/BUGS_modelDef.R
+++ b/packages/nimble/R/BUGS_modelDef.R
@@ -351,7 +351,9 @@ modelDefClass$methods(assignDimensions = function(dimensions, initsList, dataLis
         if(!(length(initDim) == 1 && initDim == 1)) {  # i.e., non-scalar inits; 1-length vectors treated as scalars and not passed along as dimension info to avoid conflicts between scalars and one-length vectors/matrices/arrays in various places
             if(initName %in% names(dL)) {
                 if(!identical(as.numeric(dL[[initName]]), as.numeric(initDim))) {
-                    messageIfVerbose('  [Warning] Inconsistent dimensions between inits and dimensions arguments: ', initName, '; ignoring dimensions in inits.')
+                    messageIfVerbose("  [Warning] Inconsistent dimensions between `inits` and `dimensions`\n",
+                                     "            Ignoring dimensions in `dimensions`.")
+                    dL[[initName]] <- initDim  ## Changed 2025-07-09 to avoid inconsistent compiled/uncompiled behavior.
                 }
             } else {
                 dL[[initName]] <- initDim
@@ -2732,6 +2734,9 @@ modelDefClass$methods(genVarInfo3 = function() {
         if(!(dimVarName %in% names(varInfo))) next
         if(length(dimensionsList[[dimVarName]]) != varInfo[[dimVarName]]$nDim)   stop('inconsistent dimensions for variable ', dimVarName)
         if(any(dimensionsList[[dimVarName]] < varInfo[[dimVarName]]$maxs))  stop(paste0('dimensions specified are smaller than model specification for variable \'', dimVarName, '\''))
+        if(any(dimensionsList[[dimVarName]] > varInfo[[dimVarName]]$maxs))
+            messageIfVerbose("  [Warning] dimensions specified are larger than model specification\n",
+                             "            for variable `", dimVarName, "`.")
         varInfo[[dimVarName]]$maxs <<- dimensionsList[[dimVarName]]
     }
 
diff --git a/packages/nimble/tests/testthat/test-models.R b/packages/nimble/tests/testthat/test-models.R
index d60385a82..c52551132 100644
--- a/packages/nimble/tests/testthat/test-models.R
+++ b/packages/nimble/tests/testthat/test-models.R
@@ -383,7 +383,29 @@ test_that("test of using dimensions of inits when dimension information not avai
     expect_error(m <- nimbleModel(code, data = list(y = rep(1, 3))), info = "expected error because dimension of mu is unknown")
     m <- nimbleModel(code, data = list(y = rep(1, 3)), inits = list(k = rep(1, 3), mu = 1:5))
     expect_equal(m$modelDef$dimensionsList$mu, 5, info = "dimension for mu not equal to that given in inits")
-    expect_message(m <- nimbleModel(code, data = list(y = rep(1, 3)), inits = list(k = rep(1, 3), mu = 1:8), dimensions = list(mu = 5)), "Inconsistent dimensions between inits and dimensions")
+    expect_message(m <- nimbleModel(code, data = list(y = rep(1, 3)), inits = list(k = rep(1, 3), mu = 1:8), dimensions = list(mu = 5)), "Inconsistent dimensions between `inits` and `dimensions`")
+})
+
+test_that("test of using dimensions of inits different than LHS dimensions:", {
+    code <- nimbleCode({
+        for(i in 1:4){
+            y[i] ~ dnorm(S[site[i]], 1)
+            S[i] ~ dnorm(0,1)
+        }
+    })
+    expect_error(m <- nimbleModel(code, data = list(y = rnorm(4)), inits=list(site=rep(1,4), S=rnorm(2))),
+                 "dimensions specified are smaller")
+    
+    code <- nimbleCode({
+        for(i in 1:4){
+            y[i] ~ dnorm(S[site[i]], 1)
+            S[i] ~ dnorm(0,1)
+        }
+    })
+    expect_message(m <- nimbleModel(code, data = list(y = rnorm(4)), inits=list(site=rep(1,4), S=rnorm(10))),
+                   "dimensions specified are larger than model specification")
+    cm <- compileNimble(m)
+    expect_identical(m$S, cm$S)
 })
 
 test_that("test of using dimensions of data when dimension information not available:", {
@@ -945,7 +967,8 @@ test_that("bad size or dimension of initial values", {
 
     ## For better or worse, length of 5 gets baked in based on inits.
     ## TODO: do we want to reconsider whether this should error out?
-    m <- nimbleModel(code, inits = list(z = rnorm(5)))
+    expect_message(m <- nimbleModel(code, inits = list(z = rnorm(5))),
+                   "dimensions specified are larger than model specification")
     cm <- compileNimble(m)
     expect_identical(m$z, cm$z)
 
@@ -958,8 +981,8 @@ test_that("bad size or dimension of initial values", {
     ### matrix
 
     ## For better or worse, 4x2 gets baked in based on inits.
-    ## TODO: do we want to reconsider whether this should error out?
-    m <- nimbleModel(code, inits = list(b = matrix(rnorm(8),4,2)))
+    expect_message(m <- nimbleModel(code, inits = list(b = matrix(rnorm(8),4,2))),
+                   "dimensions specified are larger than model specification")
     cm <- compileNimble(m)
     expect_identical(m$b, cm$b)