COMMENCE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does commence mean? 

• COMMENCE (verb)
  The verb COMMENCE has 3 senses:

1. take the first step or steps in carrying out an action

2. set in motion, cause to start

3. get off the ground

  Familiarity information: COMMENCE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COMMENCE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they commence    ... he / she / it commences   
Past simple: commenced   
Past participle: commenced   
-ing form: commencing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Take the first step or steps in carrying out an action

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

begin; commence; get; get down; set about; set out; start; start out

Context example:

Let's get down to work now

Verb group:

begin (begin to speak, understand, read, and write a language)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "commence"):

strike out (set out on a course of action)

bestir oneself; get cracking; get going; get moving; get rolling; get started; get weaving (start to be active)

embark; enter (set out on (an enterprise or subject of study))

come on (occur or become available)

launch; plunge (begin with vigor)

break in (start in a certain activity, enterprise, or role)

attack (set to work upon; turn one's energies vigorously to a task)

auspicate (commence in a manner calculated to bring good luck)

get to (arrive at the point of)

jump off (set off quickly, usually with success)

fall (begin vigorously)

recommence (begin again)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s to INFINITIVE
Somebody ----s VERB-ing

Sentence example:

They commence moving

Derivation:

commencement (the act of starting something)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Set in motion, cause to start

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

begin; commence; lead off; start

Context example:

begin a new chapter in your life

Cause:

begin; start (have a beginning, in a temporal, spatial, or evaluative sense)

Verb group:

begin (have a beginning, of a temporal event)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "commence"):

jump-start; jumpstart (start or re-start vigorously)

recommence (cause to start anew)

inaugurate; introduce; usher in (be a precursor of)

set off (set in motion or cause to begin)

commence; embark on; start; start up (get off the ground)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

commencement (the act of starting something)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Get off the ground

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

commence; embark on; start; start up

Context example:

The blood shed started when the partisans launched a surprise attack

Hypernyms (to "commence" is one way to...):

begin; commence; lead off; start (set in motion, cause to start)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "commence"):

inaugurate; kick off (commence officially)

open (begin or set in action, of meetings, speeches, recitals, etc.)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

commencement (the act of starting something)

 Context examples 

Perhaps you cannot yourself recall how your reverie commenced?

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

Here commences a new dominion acquired with a title by divine right.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

I commenced by inuring my body to hardship.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

In a few hours the examination would commence, and he was still in the dilemma between making the facts public and allowing the culprit to compete for the valuable scholarship.

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

Your salary with me, madam, would commence at £ 100 a year.

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

My mama departed this life, said Mrs. Micawber, before Mr. Micawber's difficulties commenced, or at least before they became pressing.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Looking fixedly at her, he commenced to make passes in front of her, from over the top of her head downward, with each hand in turn.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

But they hastened it by overfeeding, bringing the day nearer when underfeeding would commence.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Why, the day is already commenced which is to bind us indissolubly; and when we are once united, there shall be no recurrence of these mental terrors: I guarantee that.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He held his guard somewhat lower to screen this vulnerable point, and he danced round his opponent with a lightness which showed that his wind had not been impaired by the body-blows, whilst the smith still adopted the impassive tactics with which he had commenced.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)