commence

[ kuh-mens ]

/ kəˈmɛns /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR commence ON THESAURUS.COM

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

to begin; start.

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Are you the Cinderella of this week’s quiz? Test your memory on the words and definitions from March 23–29.

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schlep

to say or do hesitantly or awkwardly

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to carry; lug

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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 SYNONYMS FOR commence ON THESAURUS.COM

synonym study for commence

See begin.

OTHER WORDS FROM commence

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

Words nearby commence

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Example sentences 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
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
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

British Dictionary definitions for commenced

commence

/ (kəˈmɛns) /

verb

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

Derived forms of commence

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

commence

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

QUIZZES

Origin of commence

SYNONYMS FOR commence

synonym study for commence

OTHER WORDS FROM commence

Words nearby commence

Words related to commenced

Example sentences from the Web for commenced

British Dictionary definitions for commenced

verb

Derived forms of commence

Word Origin for commence