Entry Word: begin

Function: verb

Meaning: 1 to take the first step in (a process or course of action) <she began walking to school>

Synonyms commence, embark (on or upon), enter (into or upon), get off, kick off, launch, open, start, strike (into)

Related Words create, generate, inaugurate, initiate, innovate, invent, originate; adopt, embrace, take on, take up; establish, father, found, institute, organize, pioneer, set up, spawn

Phrases get to, set about

Near Antonyms cease, desist, discontinue, halt, lay off, quit, stop; close, complete; abandon, forsake, leave; abolish, demolish, destroy, exterminate, extinguish, phase out

Antonyms conclude, end, finish, terminate

2 to come into existence <the storm began late in the day and lasted all night>

Synonyms arise, commence, dawn, form, materialize, originate, set in, spring, start

Related Words be, breathe, exist, live, subsist; appear, arrive, emerge; continue, endure, last, persist, survive

Near Antonyms conclude, desist, discontinue, finish, halt, quit, terminate; disappear, dissolve, evaporate, vanish; depart, die, expire, pass away, perish

Antonyms cease, end, stop