commence

[ kuh-mens ]

/ kəˈmɛns /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR commence ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with or without object), com·menced, com·menc·ing.

to begin; start.

Nearby words

commedia dell'arte, commemorate, commemoration, commemorative, commemoratory, commence, commencement, commend, commendable, commendam, commendation

Origin of commence

1250–1300; Middle English commencen < Anglo-French, Middle French comencer < Vulgar Latin *cominitiāre, equivalent to Latin com- com- + initiāre to begin; see initiate

SYNONYMS FOR commence

originate, inaugurate.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR commence ON THESAURUS.COM

Related forms

com·mence·a·ble, adjectivecom·menc·er, nounre·com·mence, verb, re·com·menced, re·com·menc·ing.un·com·menced, adjective

well-com·menced, adjective

Synonym study

See begin.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for commenced

Exactly 20 years ago, the sitting government in Rwanda commenced a genocide against minority Tutsi and moderate Hutu populations.
Still a Problem From Hell, Two Decades After Rwanda|John Prendergast|April 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In May, just two weeks after production had commenced on 12 Years A Slave, the cameras started rolling on All Is by My Side.
John Ridley on ’12 Years A Slave,’ Jimi Hendrix Biopic, Steve McQueen 'Feud,' and Diversity Onscreen|Marlow Stern|March 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The pipes and drums then commenced to play “The Barren Rocks of Aden.”
Michael Daly: My Last Day With JFK|Michael Daly|November 11, 2013|DAILY BEAST
He commenced firing down on people having their breakfast in the first-floor cafeteria.
Inside the Washington Navy Yard’s Building 197 During Alexis’s Rampage|Michael Daly|September 19, 2013|DAILY BEAST

To them, the revolution that commenced in February 2011 is only half-complete (at best).
A Coup to Celebrate|Michael Tomasky|July 5, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The gray man now commenced an anecdote, which I shall give in his own words.
Road Scrapings: Coaches and Coaching|M. E. Haworth
We give no quarter now, since those Spanish wretches have commenced shooting their prisoners in cold blood.
Young Glory and the Spanish Cruiser|Walter Fenton Mott
It commenced on the 8th of July and gave occasion to a violent scene.
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 4, September, 1850|Various
The principal work is his series of Lectures in the Royal Academy, twelve in number, commenced in 1801.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 3|Various
When breakfast was over, we commenced our return to camp, taking with us our prisoner and captured property.
Four Years A Scout and Spy|E. C. Downs

British Dictionary definitions for commenced

commence

/ (kəˈmɛns) /

verb

to start or begin; come or cause to come into being, operation, etc

Derived Forms

commencer, noun

Word Origin for commence

C14: from Old French comencer, from Vulgar Latin cominitiāre (unattested), from Latin com- (intensive) + initiāre to begin, from initium a beginning

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012