commence

1 to take the first step in (a process or course of action) <commence the festivities> Synonyms begin, embark (on or upon), enter (into or upon), fall (to), get off, kick off, launch, lead off, 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; get around (to), get down (to), get round (to)Near Antonyms cease, desist, discontinue, halt, knock off, lay off, quit, stop; close, complete; abandon, forsake, leave; abolish, demolish, destroy, exterminate, extinguish, phase outAntonyms conclude, end, finish, terminate

2 to come into existence <the games commenced early in the morning> Synonyms actualize, appear, arise, break, begin, dawn, engender, form, materialize, originate, set in, spring, startRelated Words be, breathe, exist, live, subsist; arrive, come on, emerge; coalesce, cohere, shape (up); continue, endure, last, persist, surviveNear Antonyms conclude, desist, discontinue, finish, halt, quit, terminate; disappear, dissolve, evaporate, vanish; depart, die, expire, pass away, perishAntonyms cease, end, stop