Pronunciations (4)
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/bɪˈɡɪn/
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/bəˈɡɪn/
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/biˈɡɪn/
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bɪˈɡɪn
Verb
To start, to initiate or take the first step into something.
Usage- ergative
- Examples
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We begin work at nine.
I began playing the piano at the age of five.
Now that everyone is here, we should begin the presentation.
More examples (10)
The program begins at 9 o’clock on the dot.
I rushed to get to class on time, but the lesson had already begun.
The Apoſtle begins our Knowledge in the Creatures, which lead us to the Knowledge of God, if we will make uſe of our Reaſon: [...]
Ye Nymphs of Solyma! begin the ſong: / To heav'nly themes ſublimer ſtrains belong.
Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.
Of all the queer collections of humans outside of a crazy asylum, it seemed to me this sanitarium was the cup winner. […] When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose.
As Andrew, in particular, began to work on renovation and improvement, his talk about this began to be peppered with references to 'bodgery' — 'When I look at it, all I see is bodgery, he says recurrently, with a mixture of exclamation and despair.
Similarly, the biotech giant Cargill has begun manufacturing a polymer from vegetable oils that is used in polyurethane foams, which is found in beddings, furniture and car-seat headrests.
State begins fouling and UCLA misses a couple of front-end free throws on one-and-ones.
Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia.
To come into existence.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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Vast chain of being! which from God began.
Noun
Beginning; start.
Usage- nonstandard
- Examples
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In prayer, in the light, I see my kin / I touch my tree, my roots, my begin
Verb
take the first step or steps in carrying out an action
- Antonyms
- Examples
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We began working at dawn
Who will start?
More examples (4)
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
have a beginning, in a temporal, spatial, or evaluative sense
- Synonyms
- Antonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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The DMZ begins right over the hill
The second movement begins after the Allegro
More examples (1)
Prices for these homes start at $250,000
set in motion, cause to start
- Antonyms
- Examples
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The U.S. started a war in the Middle East
The Iraqis began hostilities
More examples (1)
begin a new chapter in your life
begin to speak or say
- Examples
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‘Now listen, friends’, he began
be the first item or point, constitute the beginning or start, come first in a series
- Examples
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The number ‘one’ begins the sequence
A terrible murder begins the novel
More examples (1)
The convocation ceremony officially begins the semester
have a beginning, of a temporal event
- Broader terms
- Examples
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WW II began in 1939 when Hitler marched into Poland
The company's Asia tour begins next month
have a beginning characterized in some specified way
- Synonyms
- Examples
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The novel begins with a murder
My property begins with the three maple trees
More examples (2)
Her day begins with a workout
The semester begins with a convocation ceremony
begin an event that is implied and limited by the nature or inherent function of the direct object
- Synonyms
- Examples
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begin a cigar
She started the soup while it was still hot
More examples (1)
We started physics in 10th grade
achieve or accomplish in the least degree, usually used in the negative
- Broader terms
- Examples
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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
begin to speak, understand, read, and write a language
- Examples
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She began Russian at an early age
we began French in fourth grade