Scrabble Dictionary

Yes

Meaning of begin

---

1 definition found

From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:

  Begin
      n 1: 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) [syn: {Begin},
           {Menachem Begin}]
      v 1: 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" [syn: {get down}, {begin}, {get},
           {start out}, {start}, {set about}, {set out}, {commence}]
           [ant: {end}, {terminate}]
      2: 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" [syn: {begin}, {start}] [ant: {cease},
         {end}, {finish}, {stop}, {terminate}]
      3: 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" [syn: {begin}, {lead off}, {start},
         {commence}] [ant: {end}, {terminate}]
      4: begin to speak or say; "Now listen, friends," he began
      5: 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: 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: 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" [syn: {begin},
         {start}]
      8: 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" [syn: {begin}, {start}]
      9: 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 to speak, understand, read, and write a language; "She
          began Russian at an early age"; "We started French in fourth
          grade"

WordNet ® Princeton University. http://wordnet.princeton.edu