begin
verb (used without object)
to proceed to perform the first or earliest part of some action; commence; start.
begin
1 American
[bih-gin]
/ bɪˈgɪn /
verb (used without object)
-
begins,
present (3rd person singular)
-
began,
past
-
begun,
past participle
-
beginning
present participle
-
to proceed to perform the first or earliest part of some action; commence; start.
The story begins with their marriage.
- Antonyms:
- end
-
to come into existence; arise; originate.
The custom began during the Civil War.
verb (used with object)
-
begins,
present (3rd person singular)
-
began,
past
-
begun,
past participle
-
beginning
present participle
-
to proceed to perform the first or earliest part of (some action).
Begin the job tomorrow.
-
to originate; be the originator of.
civic leaders who began the reform movement.
- Synonyms:
- initiate, inaugurate, institute
-
to succeed to the slightest extent in (followed by an infinitive).
The money won't even begin to cover expenses.
Begin
2
American
[bey-gin]
/ ˈbeɪ gɪn /
noun
begin
1
British
/ bɪˈɡɪn /
verb
-
to start or cause to start (something or to do something)
-
to bring or come into being for the first time; arise or originate
-
to start to say or speak
-
(used with a negative) to have the least capacity (to do something)
he couldn't begin to compete with her
-
in the first place
Begin
2
British
/ ˈbɛɡɪn /
noun
begin
Idioms
Synonym Usage
Begin, commence, initiate, start (when followed by noun or gerund) refer to setting into motion or progress something that continues for some time. Begin is the common term: to begin knitting a sweater. Commence is a more formal word, often suggesting a more prolonged or elaborate beginning: to commence proceedings in court. Initiate implies an active and often ingenious first act in a new field: to initiate a new procedure. Start means to make a first move or to set out on a course of action: to start paving a street.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
beginsimple
-
beginssimple
-
have begunperfect
-
has begunperfect
-
am beginningprogressive
-
are beginningprogressive
-
is beginningprogressive
-
have been beginningperfect progressive
-
has been beginningperfect progressive
Past
-
begansimple
-
had begunperfect
-
was beginningprogressive
-
were beginningprogressive
-
had been beginningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of begin
First recorded before 1000; Middle English beginnen, Old English beginnan, equivalent to be- be- + -ginnan “to begin,” perhaps originally “to open,” akin to yawn
Explanation
To begin is to start. When it begins to snow, every flake looks pretty, drifting gently down from the dark sky. When you begin something, you go ahead with its first part or stage — you can begin the day with a good attitude, or begin a very long book over and over again, always falling asleep before you get to chapter two. You also might begin a journey by lacing up your hiking boots. Things also begin when they have a specific element as a first part, as when a word begins with the letter T.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Leeds begin their Premier League campaign away at Nottingham Forest next Saturday.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
Write guidance such as “Don’t begin responses by praising the question, idea or plan. Just answer it.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
After three seasons at LSU, Rodriguez moved to California to begin her beach volleyball career.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
Add pandemic adolescence, expensive housing and stagnant wages, and different choices begin to look less mysterious than inevitable.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026
A prayer was said, a hymn sung; Leah intoned a series of questions to begin their conversation with the dead.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
Begin with Magic Johnson and Billie Jean King, part of the group that owns the Dodgers and Sparks.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2026
Begin with minced onion, cooked slowly in the rendered fat until fully softened and translucent.
From Salon ● Apr. 7, 2026
The latest example is a report from Jefferies titled “From Asimov to the Assembly Line: Humanoid Robots Begin to Clock In.”
From Barron's ● Mar. 25, 2026
Begin with the obvious fact: He’s got the vocal chops.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 24, 2025
Begin in the section to your left and, within each section, move from left to right and top to bottom.
From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich
Like the Beatles’ “Eight Days a Week” and Yes’s “Roundabout,” the track begins with a fade-in, featuring Mr. Scholz playing a descending acoustic-guitar arpeggio.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
The Fantasy Premier League season begins on Friday 21 August so, to help managers as you tinker with your teams before the deadline, we've gone through all 20 teams and analysed some of their assets.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
Open, which begins at the end of the month.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
"From this experiment, it looks like there's a dynamic interaction between the virus and antibodies that takes place as the virus begins to spread."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 13, 2026
It’s a stressful moment, but my favorite moment: the split second before the cacophony of sounds erupts and the race begins.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
To break out of their rut, they began working their way through the cuisines of every country in the world at local restaurants and documenting their experience on social media.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
As the procession began, Total Eclipse of the Heart could be heard playing on the busy street, as crying fans broke into applause.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
But nearly everyone agrees that it was in 2012 when things really began to boil over.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
He began studying the Tar Pits' relatively understudied reptile and amphibian collections while working there as a Postdoctoral Fellow.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026
Now as I began to grasp the solitaire game, I wondered what Father’s resistance to them had been—surely nothing could be more innocent than this succession of shapes called clubs, spades, diamonds.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Especially when I realized that what was in the bowl had begun as a five-item farmers market haul, helped along by a few things I already had at home.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
Engels, who has made four appearances for Belgium, won back-to-back Scottish Premiership titles with Celtic after arriving from Augsburg in August 2024, having begun his career at Club Brugge.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
During the same period that Google and DeepMind were navigating their new relationship, a rival lab by the name of OpenAI had begun working on a large language model.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026
Now, families of those on board have begun speaking out publicly, describing concerns about mental health and supply issues aboard the aircraft carrier.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
But Leah had begun spreading rumors —Maggie Fox was being educated by the famous Dr. Kane “with the intention of marrying her” upon his return from the Arctic.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
In Hamilton County, just north of Indianapolis, officials said Sunday water was beginning to recede as they began recovery efforts across cities in the area.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
Jacobs announced she was beginning the egg freezing process in 2021, at a time where she said few lawmakers were discussing the topic in the halls of Congress.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
After Ohtani received a lubricating Orthovisc injection in his knee at the beginning of the All-Star break, the Dodgers hoped he would pitch against the Philadelphia Phillies on July 22.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026
But the company’s AI strategy has faced internal culture clashes and organizational hurdles since the very beginning.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026
If I cannot do it, who can?—I have been the beginning of it.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
