COMMENCE

begin, lead off, start, commence

(verb) 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”

start, start up, embark on, commence

(verb) 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”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Verb

commence (third-person singular simple present commences, present participle commencing, simple past and past participle commenced)

(intransitive) To begin, start.

(transitive) To begin to be, or to act as.

(UK, intransitive, dated) To take a degree at a university.

Antonyms

• cease

• stop

Source: Wiktionary

Com*mence", v. i. [imp. & p. p. Commenced; p. pr. & vb. n. Commencing.] Etym: [F. commencer, OF. commencier, 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.

Definition: 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.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

COMMENCE

Etymology

Verb

Antonyms

Recent Word Finds

Word of the Day

TWIST

Do you know this game?