Definition of commence
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: to have or make a beginning : start
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Examples of commence in a Sentence
- Dear God, I thought, I've been infected by an earworm. My friend the Longhair says that's what you call songs that burrow into your head and commence chewing your brains. —Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly, 24 Apr./1 May 2009
- He thereupon commenced giving me this fantastically boring lecture about how the only reason I want a stuffed chicken is because they look so good in a shop window, and that the moment I received one I'd start dreaming up ways to ditch it. —Douglas Coupland, Generation X, 1991
- The policy would commence not only with the limiting of permits for the building of hotels and boats but with supervision—through expert architectural advice—of the construction of these boats and hotels … —William Styron, This Quiet Dust and Other Writings, (1953) 1982
- "Why shoot, I thought you wanted to be a lawyer, you've already commenced going to court." The ladies laughed again. —Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, 1960
- I have commenced two letters to send you before this, both of which displeased me before I got half done, and so I tore them up. —Abraham Lincoln, letter, 4 May 1837
The festivities will commence with a parade.
Their contract commences in January.
The court commenced criminal proceedings.
The country has commenced preparations for war.
Recent Examples of commence from the Web
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The pipeline is expected to commence operations as soon as mid-2019.
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In halting the exercises, which were to commence in August, Mr. Trump went against the advice of military officials who argue such exercises are critical to maintaining military preparedness.
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Without it, Ed’s family and friends were in limbo, unable to commence the public rituals that attend death, unable to get on with the private phase of their grief.
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France forward Kylian Mbappe was forced out of a training session on Tuesday afternoon following a clash with teammate Adil Rami, just four days before Les Bleus are due to commence their World Cup campaign against Australia in the city of Kazan.
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As of Monday morning, both leaders have arrived in Singapore and the summit was slated to commence as scheduled.
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The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission on May 23 gave its unanimous approval to commence a controversial hunt of bruins this coming autumn.
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According to Kohta, fuel debris removal isn’t scheduled to commence before the end of 2021.
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And to that end, Prescott commenced with his long-expected get away some of his new receivers, including Allen Hurns, Deonte Thompson, Lance Lenior and Michael Gallup at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports at Disney in Orlando.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'commence.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
commence Synonyms
Synonyms
begin, embark (on or upon), enter (into or upon), fall (to), get off, kick off, launch, lead off, open, start, strike (into);
Near Antonyms
cease, desist, discontinue, halt, knock off, lay off, quit, stop;
abolish, demolish, destroy, exterminate, extinguish, phase out;
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 going, get to, set about;
Synonym Discussion of commence
begin, commence, start, initiate, inaugurate, usher in mean to take the first step in a course, process, or operation. begin, start, and commence are often interchangeable. begin, opposed to end, is the most general.
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- begin a trip
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- began dancing
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- the work started slowly
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- commence firing
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- commenced a conversation
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- initiated diplomatic contacts
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- the discovery of penicillin inaugurated a new era in medicine
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- ushered in a period of economic decline
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