What does begin mean?

Definitions for begin
ˈbeɪ gɪnbe·gin

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word begin.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. Begin, Menachem Beginverb

    Israeli statesman (born in Russia) who (as prime minister of Israel) negotiated a peace treaty with Anwar Sadat (then the president of Egypt) (1913-1992)

  2. get down, begin, get, start out, start, set about, set out, commenceverb

    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"

  3. begin, startverb

    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"

  4. begin, lead off, start, commenceverb

    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"

  5. beginverb

    begin to speak or say

    "Now listen, friends," he began

  6. beginverb

    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"

  7. beginverb

    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"

  8. begin, startverb

    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"

  9. begin, startverb

    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"

  10. beginverb

    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"

  11. beginverb

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

    "She began Russian at an early age"; "We started French in fourth grade"

Wiktionary

  1. beginnoun

    beginning; start

  2. beginverb

    To start, to initiate or take the first step into something.

  3. Etymology: From beginnen, from beginnan, from biginnanan (compare West Frisian begjinne, / beginnen), from ghendhe/o 'to take' (compare genni 'to delve, submerge onself', Latin prehendere 'to grasp, nab', praeda 'prey', zë 'to catch', Ancient Greek chandánein 'to hold, contain')

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. To Beginverb

    Ye nymphs of Solyma, begin the song. Alexander Pope, Messiah.

    They have been awaked, by these awful scenes, to begin religion; and, afterwards, their virtue has improved itself into more refined principles, by divine grace. Isaac Watts.

    The apostle begins our knowledge in the creatures, which leads us to the knowledge of God. John Locke.

    A lesson which requires so much time to learn, had need be early begun with. Government of the Tongue.

  2. To BEGINverb

    I began, or begun; I have begun.

    Etymology: beginnan , Sax. from be, or by to, and gangan, gaan , or gan , to go.

    Begin every day to repent; not that thou shouldst at all defer it; but all that is past ought to seem little to thee, seeing it is so in itself. Begin the next day with the same zeal, fear, and humility, as if thou hadst never begun before. Taylor.

    I’ll sing of heroes and of kings;
    Begin my muse. Abraham Cowley.

    They began at the ancient men which were before the house. Ezekiel, ix. 6.

    Of these no more you hear him speak;
    He now begins upon the Greek:
    These rang’d and show’d, shall, in their turns,
    Remain obscure as in their urns. Matthew Prior.

    Beginning from the rural gods, his hand
    Was lib’ral to the pow’rs of high command. John Dryden, Fab.

    Rapt into future times, the bard begun,
    A virgin shall conceive. Alexander Pope, Messiah.

    And thus the hard and stubborn race of man,
    From animated rock and flint began. Richard Blackmore.

    From Nimrod first the savage chase began;
    A mighty hunter, and his game was man. Alexander Pope.

    Judgment must begin at the house of God. 1 Pet. iv. 17.

    The song begun from Jove. Dryden.

    All began,
    All ends in love of God, and love of man. Alexander Pope.

    Now and then a sigh he stole,
    And tears began to flow. Dryden.

ChatGPT

  1. begin

    "Begin" generally refers to the starting point or initiation of a particular action, process, event, or task. It implies the commencement or introduction of something new or the first stage of an activity.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Beginverb

    to have or commence an independent or first existence; to take rise; to commence

  2. Beginverb

    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. Beginverb

    to enter on; to commence

  4. Beginverb

    to trace or lay the foundation of; to make or place a beginning of

  5. Beginnoun

    beginning

Wikidata

  1. Begin

    Begin is a Japanese pop group from Ishigaki Island in the Yaeyama Islands of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Their sound contains many elements of traditional Okinawan music, and prominently features the sanshin.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Begin

    be-gin′, v.i. to take rise: to enter on something new: to commence.—v.t. to enter on: to commence (with at, with, upon):—pr.p. begin′ning; pa.t. began′; pa.p. begun′.—ns. Begin′ner, one who begins: one who is beginning to learn or practise anything; Begin′ning, origin or commencement: rudiments—(Spens.) Beginne′.—adj. Begin′ningless. [A.S. beginnan (more usually onginnan), from be, and ginnan, to begin.]

Editors Contribution

  1. begin

    To create.

    They did begin ballroom dancing together.


    Submitted by MaryC on February 20, 2020  

Suggested Resources

  1. begin

    Song lyrics by begin -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by begin on the Lyrics.com website.

Surnames Frequency by Census Records

  1. BEGIN

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Begin is ranked #11839 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

    The Begin surname appeared 2,644 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 would have the surname Begin.

    94.7% or 2,504 total occurrences were White.
    1.5% or 42 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
    1.2% or 32 total occurrences were Black.
    1.2% or 32 total occurrences were Asian.
    1% or 27 total occurrences were of two or more races.
    0.2% or 7 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.

Matched Categories

British National Corpus

  1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'begin' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #1375

  2. Written Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'begin' in Written Corpus Frequency: #1933

  3. Verbs Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'begin' in Verbs Frequency: #44

Anagrams for begin »

  1. being

  2. binge

How to pronounce begin?

How to say begin in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of begin in Chaldean Numerology is: 7

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of begin in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of begin in a Sentence

  1. Henry Ford:

    Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.

  2. John Kerry:

    I've never before seen the world more in need of someone who on day one can begin the incredibly hard work of putting back together the world Donald Trump has smashed apart.

  3. Vincenzo Giammanco:

    That does not even begin to count the people associated with the band and the positive economic effect on nearby businesses, then you had people buying food from restaurants because we don't provide any. They( concertgoers) also stayed at hotels.

  4. Eric Siu:

    If you actually do good work, you ’ll get referrals and begin to develop a name for yourself.

  5. Mike Pompeo:

    We are hopeful that over the next couple of weeks, we can really begin to make a dent in that problem.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

begin#1#1805#10000

Translations for begin

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

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    directed outward; marked by interest in others or concerned with external reality
    A adscripted
    B butch
    C extroversive
    D articulate

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