Verb
- 1. get down, begin, get, start out, start, set about, set out, commence
- usage: take the first step or steps in carrying out an action; "We began working at dawn"; "Who will start?"; "Get working as soon as the sun rises!"; "The first tourists began to arrive in Cambodia"; "He began early in the day"; "Let's get down to work now"
- 2. begin, start
- usage: have a beginning, in a temporal, spatial, or evaluative sense; "The DMZ begins right over the hill"; "The second movement begins after the Allegro"; "Prices for these homes start at $250,000"
- 3. begin, lead off, start, commence
- usage: set in motion, cause to start; "The U.S. started a war in the Middle East"; "The Iraqis began hostilities"; "begin a new chapter in your life"
- 4. begin, talk, speak, utter, mouth, verbalize, verbalise
- usage: begin to speak or say; "Now listen, friends," he began
- 5. begin
- usage: 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"; "The convocation ceremony officially begins the semester"
- 6. begin, be
- usage: 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"
- 7. begin, start, be
- usage: have a beginning characterized in some specified way; "The novel begins with a murder"; "My property begins with the three maple trees"; "Her day begins with a workout"; "The semester begins with a convocation ceremony"
- 8. begin, start, act, move
- usage: 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"; "We started physics in 10th grade"
- 9. begin, achieve, accomplish, attain, reach
- usage: 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"
- 10. begin
- usage: begin to speak, understand, read, and write a language; "She began Russian at an early age"; "We started French in fourth grade"
WordNet 3.0 Copyright © 2006 by Princeton University.
All rights reserved.Definition and meaning of began (Dictionary)