commence

English

Etymology

From Middle English commencen, comencen (also as contracted comsen, cumsen), from Anglo-Norman comencer, from Vulgar Latin *cominitiāre, formed from Latin com- + initiō (whence English initiate).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kəˈmɛns/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛns

Verb

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

1. (intransitive) To begin, start.
   • 1601, William Shakespeare, The Phoenix and the Turtle‎:

     Here the anthem doth commence:

   • 1770, Oliver Goldsmith, “The Deserted Village”, in The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith‎, London: W. Griffin, published 1775, page 164:

     His heaven commences ere the world be past!

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 4, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     He commenced dressing at top by donning his beaver hat, a very tall one, by the by, and then—still minus his trowsers—he hunted up his boots.

   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     Then he commenced to talk, really talk. and inside of two flaps of a herring's fin he had me mesmerized, like Eben Holt's boy at the town hall show. He talked about the ills of humanity, and the glories of health and Nature and service and land knows what all.

2. (transitive) To begin to be, or to act as.
   • 1743, Robert Drury, The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar‎, London, page 126:

     […] he furnish’d me with a Gun, Cartouch-box, and Powder-horn, &c. and thus accouter’d I commenc’d Soldier.

   • 1825, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Aids to Reflection in the Formation of a Manly Character‎, London: Taylor & Hessey, Prudential Aphorisms, Aphorism 15, page 48:

     When we are wearied of the trouble of prosecuting crimes at the bar, we commence judges ourselves […]

3. (UK, intransitive, dated) To take a degree at a university.
   • 1655, Thomas Fuller, “The Seventh Century”, in The Church-history of Britain; , London: Iohn Williams , →OCLC, book, page 75:

     […] I question whether the Formality of Commencing was used in that Age: inclining rather to the negative, that such Distinction of Graduates was then unknown […]

   • 1861, George John Gray, Athenae Cantabrigienses: 1586-1609, page 272:

     […] was admitted a minor fellow of his college 4 Oct. 1591, a major fellow 11 March 1591-2, and commenced M.A. in 1592.

Synonyms

• (to begin): initiate

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of "to begin"): cease, stop

Related terms

• commencement

Translations

French

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

commence

1. inflection of commencer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Louisiana Creole

Etymology

From French commencer (“to commence”), compare Haitian Creole kòmanse.

Verb

commence

1. to begin, commence

References

• Alcée Fortier, Louisiana Folktales