BEGINNING

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does beginning mean? 

• BEGINNING (noun)
  The noun BEGINNING has 5 senses:

1. the event consisting of the start of something

2. the time at which something is supposed to begin

3. the first part or section of something

4. the place where something begins, where it springs into being

5. the act of starting something

  Familiarity information: BEGINNING used as a noun is common.

• BEGINNING (adjective)
  The adjective BEGINNING has 1 sense:

1. serving to begin

  Familiarity information: BEGINNING used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BEGINNING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The event consisting of the start of something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Context example:

the beginning of the war

Hypernyms ("beginning" is a kind of...):

happening; natural event; occurrence; occurrent (an event that happens)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "beginning"):

conception; creation (the event that occurred at the beginning of something)

egress; emergence; issue (the becoming visible)

start (the beginning of anything)

emergence; growth; outgrowth (the gradual beginning or coming forth)

generation; genesis (a coming into being)

inception; origin; origination (an event that is a beginning; a first part or stage of subsequent events)

casus belli (an event used to justify starting a war)

ground floor (becoming part of a venture at the beginning (regarded as position of advantage))

Antonym:

ending (event whose occurrence ends something)

Derivation:

begin (set in motion, cause to start)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The time at which something is supposed to begin

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Synonyms:

beginning; commencement; first; get-go; kickoff; offset; outset; showtime; start; starting time

Context example:

she knew from the get-go that he was the man for her

Hypernyms ("beginning" is a kind of...):

point; point in time (an instant of time)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "beginning"):

birth (the time when something begins (especially life))

incipience; incipiency (beginning to exist or to be apparent)

starting point; terminus a quo (earliest limiting point)

threshold (the starting point for a new state or experience)

Antonym:

end (the point in time at which something ends)

middle (time between the beginning and the end of a temporal period)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The first part or section of something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Context example:

'It was a dark and stormy night' is a hackneyed beginning for a story

Hypernyms ("beginning" is a kind of...):

division; part; section (one of the portions into which something is regarded as divided and which together constitute a whole)

Antonym:

end (a final part or section)

middle (an intermediate part or section)

Derivation:

begin (be the first item or point, constitute the beginning or start, come first in a series)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The place where something begins, where it springs into being

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

beginning; origin; root; rootage; source

Context example:

communism's Russian root

Hypernyms ("beginning" is a kind of...):

point (the precise location of something; a spatially limited location)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "beginning"):

jumping-off place; point of departure (a place from which an enterprise or expedition is launched)

trail head; trailhead (the beginning of a trail)

point source (a concentrated source (especially of radiation or pollution) that is spatially constricted)

home (place where something began and flourished)

birthplace; cradle; place of origin; provenance; provenience (where something originated or was nurtured in its early existence)

wellhead; wellspring (the source of water for a well)

headwater (the source of a river)

fountainhead; head; headspring (the source of water from which a stream arises)

spring (a point at which water issues forth)

derivation (the source or origin from which something derives (i.e. comes or issues))

Sense 5

Meaning:

The act of starting something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

beginning; commencement; start

Context example:

he was responsible for the beginning of negotiations

Hypernyms ("beginning" is a kind of...):

change of state (the act of changing something into something different in essential characteristics)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "beginning"):

activation (making active and effective (as a bomb))

jumping-off point; point of departure; springboard (a beginning from which an enterprise is launched)

startup (the act of setting in operation)

scrum; scrummage ((rugby) the method of beginning play in which the forwards of each team crouch side by side with locked arms; play starts when the ball is thrown in between them and the two sides compete for possession)

recommencement; resumption (beginning again)

kickoff ((football) a kick from the center of the field to start a football game or to resume it after a score)

jump ball ((basketball) the way play begins or resumes when possession is disputed; an official tosses the ball up between two players who jump in an effort to tap it to a teammate)

installation; installing; installment; instalment (the act of installing something (as equipment))

creation; foundation; founding; initiation; innovation; instauration; institution; introduction; origination (the act of starting something for the first time; introducing something new)

inauguration; startup (the act of starting a new operation or practice)

icebreaker (a beginning that relaxes a tense or formal atmosphere)

housing start (the act of starting to construct a house)

groundbreaking; groundbreaking ceremony (the ceremonial breaking of the ground to formally begin a construction project)

first step; initiative; opening; opening move (the first of a series of actions)

face-off ((ice hockey) the method of starting play; a referee drops the puck between two opposing players)

debut; entry; first appearance; introduction; launching; unveiling (the act of beginning something new)

constitution; establishment; formation; organisation; organization (the act of forming or establishing something)

attack; tone-beginning (a decisive manner of beginning a musical tone or phrase)

Instance hyponyms:

Creation ((theology) God's act of bringing the universe into existence)

Derivation:

begin (take the first step or steps in carrying out an action)

• BEGINNING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Serving to begin

Synonyms:

beginning; first

Context example:

the first verse

Similar:

opening (first or beginning)

 Context examples 

One foot was descending into the opening, while the other foot was just on the verge of beginning the uplift.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Had he known of the crevice, he could have closed it with a rock at the beginning and the fish would have been his.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

It seems to me that her imagination is beginning to work.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

From the beginning there was really nothing to prevent us from taking possession of the ship.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I can trace each of the busts now from the beginning.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He was just beginning to orientate himself and to feel that he was not wholly an intruder.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey side.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

We've only just started, and we can't quit at the beginning.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I am sorry to make such a beginning with you, but I must do it.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

From the beginning there had been an ancient and ramshackle cabin.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)