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begin - Meaning and Examples

Meaning of 'begin' (Webster Dictionary)

1 . Begin [ n.]
- Beginning.
2 . Begin [ v. i.]
- To have or commence an independent or first existence; to take rise; to commence.
- To do the first act or the first part of an action; to enter upon or commence something new, as a new form or state of being, or course of action; to take the first step; to start.
3 . Begin [ v. t.]
- To enter on; to commence.
- To trace or lay the foundation of; to make or place a beginning of.

Meaning of 'begin' (Princeton's WordNet)

1 . begin [ v]
Meaning (1):
- be the first item or point, constitute the beginning or start, come first in a series
Example in sentence:
  • A terrible murder begins the novel;
  • The convocation ceremony officially begins the semester;
  • The number `one' begins the sequence
Meaning (2):
- begin an event that is implied and limited by the nature or inherent function of the direct object
Example in sentence:
  • begin a cigar;
  • She started the soup while it was still hot;
  • We started physics in 10th grade
Meaning (3):
- set in motion, cause to start
Example in sentence:
  • begin a new chapter in your life;
  • The Iraqis began hostilities;
  • The U.S. started a war in the Middle East
Meaning (4):
- take the first step or steps in carrying out an action
Example in sentence:
  • Get working as soon as the sun rises!;
  • He began early in the day;
  • Let's get down to work now;
  • The first tourists began to arrive in Cambodia;
  • We began working at dawn;
  • Who will start?
Meaning (5):
- have a beginning characterized in some specified way
Example in sentence:
  • Her day begins with a workout;
  • My property begins with the three maple trees;
  • The novel begins with a murder;
  • The semester begins with a convocation ceremony
Meaning (6):
- have a beginning, in a temporal, spatial, or evaluative sense
Example in sentence:
  • Prices for these homes start at $250,000;
  • The DMZ begins right over the hill;
  • The second movement begins after the Allegro
Meaning (7):
- begin to speak, understand, read, and write a language
Example in sentence:
  • She began Russian at an early age;
  • We started French in fourth grade
Meaning (8):
- have a beginning, of a temporal event
Example in sentence:
  • The company's Asia tour begins next month;
  • WW II began in 1939 when Hitler marched into Poland
Meaning (9):
- achieve or accomplish in the least degree, usually used in the negative
Example in sentence:
  • This economic measure doesn't even begin to deal with the problem of inflation;
  • You cannot even begin to understand the problem we had to deal with during the war
Meaning (10):
- begin to speak or say
Example in sentence:
  • `Now listen, friends', he began

Nearby Words:

beg bega began begat begem begemmed begemming beget begetter begetting

See 'begin' also in:

Dictionary.com Google Translator Wikipedia.com Merriam Webster

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