Search Result for "commence": 
Wordnet 3.0

VERB (3)

1. take the first step or steps in carrying out an action;
- Example: "We began working at dawn"
- Example: "Who will start?"
- Example: "Get working as soon as the sun rises!"
- Example: "The first tourists began to arrive in Cambodia"
- Example: "He began early in the day"
- Example: "Let's get down to work now"
[syn: get down, begin, get, start out, start, set about, set out, commence]

2. set in motion, cause to start;
- Example: "The U.S. started a war in the Middle East"
- Example: "The Iraqis began hostilities"
- Example: "begin a new chapter in your life"
[syn: begin, lead off, start, commence]

3. get off the ground;
- Example: "Who started this company?"
- Example: "We embarked on an exciting enterprise"
- Example: "I start my day with a good breakfast"
- Example: "We began the new semester"
- Example: "The afternoon session begins at 4 PM"
- Example: "The blood shed started when the partisans launched a surprise attack"
[syn: start, start up, embark on, commence]



The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Commence \Com*mence"\, v. t.
   To enter upon; to begin; to perform the first act of.
   [1913 Webster]

         Many a wooer doth commence his suit.     --Shak.
   [1913 Webster]

   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.
         [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Commence \Com*mence"\ (k[o^]m*m[e^]ns"), v. i. [imp. & p. p.
   Commenced (k[o^]m*m[e^]nst"); 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.
      [1913 Webster]

            Here the anthem doth commence.        --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

            His heaven commences ere the world be past.
                                                  --Goldsmith.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To begin to be, or to act as. [Archaic]
      [1913 Webster]

            We commence judges ourselves.         --Coleridge.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To take a degree at a university. [Eng.]
      [1913 Webster]

            I question whether the formality of commencing was
            used in that age.                     --Fuller.
      [1913 Webster]


WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

commence
    v 1: 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"; "Let's
         get down to work now" [syn: get down, begin, get,
         start out, start, set about, set out, commence]
         [ant: end, terminate]
    2: 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" [syn: begin, lead off, start,
       commence] [ant: end, terminate]
    3: 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" [syn: start, start
       up, embark on, commence]