Definitions for: Commence


[v] take the first step or steps in carrying out an action; "We began working at dawn"; "Who will start?"; "Get working as soon as the sun rises!"; "The first tourists began to arrive in Cambodia"; "He began early in the day"
[v] set in motion, cause to start; "The U.S. started a war in the Middle East"; "The Iraqis began hostilities"; "begin a new chapter in your life"
[v] get off the ground; "Who started this company?"; "We embarked on an exciting enterprise"; "I start my day with a good breakfast"; "We began the new semester"; "The afternoon session begins at 4 PM"; "The blood shed started when the partisans launched a surprise attack"



Webster (1913) Definition: Com*mence", v. i. [imp. & p. p. Commenced; p. pr. &
vb. n. Commencing.] [F. commencer, OF. comencier, fr. L.
com- + initiare to begin. See Initiate.]
1. To have a beginning or origin; to originate; to start; to
begin.

Here the anthem doth commence. --Shak.

His heaven commences ere the world be past.
--Goldsmith.

2. To begin to be, or to act as. [Archaic]

We commence judges ourselves. --Coleridge.

3. To take a degree at a university. [Eng.]

I question whether the formality of commencing was
used in that age. --Fuller.


Com*mence", v. t.
To enter upon; to begin; to perform the first act of.

Many a wooer doth commence his suit. --Shak.

Note: It is the practice of good writers to use the verbal
noun (instead of the infinitive with to) after
commence; as, he commenced studying, not he commenced
to study.

Synonyms: begin, embark on, get, lead off, set about, set out, start, start, start out, start up

Antonyms: end, terminate

See Also: attack, auspicate, begin, bestir oneself, break in, come on, commence, commence, embark, embark on, enter, fall, get cracking, get going, get moving, get rolling, get started, get to, get weaving, inaugurate, inaugurate, introduce, jump off, kick off, launch, lead off, open, plunge, set off, start up, strike out, usher in

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