What does "commence" mean?
Commence: To begin to be, or to act as. [Archaic] We commence judges ourselves. Coleridge.
Additional senses
- 2.To take a degree at a university. [Eng.] I question whether the formality of commencing was used in that age. Fuller.
- 3.To enter upon; to begin; to perform the first act of. Many a wooer doth commence his suit. Shak. Note: It is the practice of good writers to use the verbal noun (instead of the infinitive with to) after commence; as, he commenced studying, not he commenced to study.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00