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ENGLISH THESAURUS & DICTIONARY

begin

verb

Words like begin

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MEANING & USAGE

Definitions & examples

01verb

take the first step or steps in carrying out an action

“We began working at dawn”

“Who will start?”

02verb

have a beginning, in a temporal, spatial, or evaluative sense

“The DMZ begins right over the hill”

“The second movement begins after the Allegro”

03verb

set in motion, cause to start

“The U.S. started a war in the Middle East”

“The Iraqis began hostilities”

04verb

begin to speak or say

“‘Now listen, friends’, he began”

6 more meanings

05verb

be the first item or point, constitute the beginning or start, come first in a series

“The number ‘one’ begins the sequence”

“A terrible murder begins the novel”

06verb

have a beginning, of a temporal event

“WW II began in 1939 when Hitler marched into Poland”

“The company's Asia tour begins next month”

07verb

have a beginning characterized in some specified way

“The novel begins with a murder”

“My property begins with the three maple trees”

08verb

begin an event that is implied and limited by the nature or inherent function of the direct object

“begin a cigar”

“She started the soup while it was still hot”

09verb

achieve or accomplish in the least degree, usually used in the negative

“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”

10verb

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

“She began Russian at an early age”

“we began French in fourth grade”

Meanings and examples from Open English WordNet 2025. About our sources ↗

WORDS IN USE

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Idiom explained

back to square one

Back at the beginning after a plan or attempt has failed.

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Plain English

commence → start

Begin is another familiar choice.

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Expressions with “begin”

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Explore multiword dictionary entries containing this word. Each has its own meanings and related words.

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