Etymology : Middle English comencen, from Middle French comencer, from Vulgar Latin cominitiare, from Latin com- + Late Latin initiare to begin, from Latin, to initiate
Pronunciation : k&-'men(t)s
Function : verb
Date : 14th century
1. begin, start. commence\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.].
2. to have a beginning or origin; to originate; to start; to begin. here the anthem doth commence. his heaven commences ere the world be past.
3. to begin to be, or to act as. [archaic] we commence judges ourselves.
4. to take a degree at a university. [eng.] i question whether the formality of commencing was used in that age.commence \com*mence"\, v. t. to enter upon; to begin; to perform the first act of. many a wooer doth commence his suit.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.commence v.
5. 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" [syn: begin, get, start out, start, set about, set out] [ant: end].
6. 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] [ant: end].
7. 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].
8. To have a beginning or origin; to originate; to start; to begin.
9. To begin to be, or to act as.
10. To take a degree at a university.
11. To enter upon; to begin; to perform the first act of.
12. When something commences or you commence it, it begins. The academic year commences at the beginning of October They commenced a systematic search The hunter knelt beside the animal carcass and commenced to skin it. = begin. to begin or to start something (comencer, from cominitiare, from com- ( COM-) + initiare ).