commence
See also: commencé
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 (UK) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛns
Verb
commence (third-person singular simple present commences, present participle commencing, simple past and past participle commenced)
- (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, 1775, p. 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 57395299:
- 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. Lincoln, chapter 4, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
- 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.
- 1601, William Shakespeare, The Phoenix and the Turtle,
- (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, p. 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, p. 48,
- When we are wearied of the trouble of prosecuting crimes at the bar, we commence judges ourselves […]
- 1743, Robert Drury, The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar, London, p. 126,
- (UK, intransitive, dated) To take a degree at a university.
- 1655, Thomas Fuller, “The Seventh Century”, in James Nichols, editor, The Church History of Britain, […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), new edition, London: […] [James Nichols] for Thomas Tegg and Son, […], published 1837, OCLC 913056315, 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.
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Synonyms
- (to begin): initiate
Antonyms
- (to begin): cease, stop
Related terms
- commencement
Translations
begin, start
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French
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Verb
commence
- inflection of commencer:
- first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
- second-person singular imperative
Louisiana Creole French
Etymology
From French commencer (“to commence”), compare Haitian Creole kòmanse.
Verb
commence
- to begin, commence
References
- Alcée Fortier, Louisiana Folktales