commencement
Americannoun
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commencements
plural
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an act or instance of commencing; beginning.
the commencement of hostilities.
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the ceremony of conferring degrees or granting diplomas at the end of the academic year.
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the day on which this ceremony takes place.
noun
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the beginning; start
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a ceremony for the presentation of awards at secondary schools
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a ceremony for the conferment of academic degrees
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Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of commencement
First recorded in 1225–75; Middle English, from Anglo-French, Old French; equivalent to commence + -ment
Explanation
A commencement is the act of starting out, or blazing a new trail. The suffix -ment makes the word commencement a noun — a thing, an activity, a start. The word can be used for the beginning of anything, from a business meeting to a vacation trip to a marriage. Anything that begins has a moment of commencement. That's why a graduation ceremony is called a commencement — a graduate is embarking on a new life, and the commencement ritual marks the official beginning of that life.
Vocabulary lists containing commencement
The Vocabulary of College
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A Graduation Lexicon
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Steve Jobs's Commencement Address (2005)
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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:
It has accommodated countless graduations, and Long Beach City College and numerous area high schools will have to relocate their commencement ceremonies during construction.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2026
Plebes, prohibited from fraternizing with girls, celebrated spring commencement by marching across the walkways and climbing Herndon.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2026
As prices neared the $2.50-a-gallon level from Feb. 27, the day before the commencement of war in Iran, airlines added to gains.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
Oh, and it’s graduation season, which means hundreds of teenagers will arrive right after their high-school commencement ceremonies for Project Grad, an alcohol-free night at the mall.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026
“I hate that she’s probably going to end up giving the fifth-grade commencement speech at graduation this year.”
From "Auggie & Me" by R. J. Palacio
“I have presided over 28 commencements as a president and dean, and those ceremonies are about celebrating the graduates and their supporters,” Schapiro wrote in a letter declining the speech.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 9, 2026
Few West Coast universities rival the pomp of the University of Southern California’s commencements.
From New York Times ● May 8, 2024
Protesters have pitched tents on campuses from Harvard and MIT to Stanford and the University of Texas, Austin, raising tensions as many schools prepare for spring commencements.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 26, 2024
But the main reason why I speak at so many commencements is because graduations tend to be boring — watching off-white paint dry on a rainy day-style boring.
From Salon ● Jun. 24, 2022
For my final round of commencements as First Lady, I spoke at Jackson State University in Mississippi, another historically black school, using the opportunity to talk about striving for excellence.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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.
