Commencing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Initiating a procedure or process while signifying the start of an activity or event
2. Beginning a specific action or undertaking, which marks the onset of a series of events or processes
3. The act of initiating an event or action at its earliest moment

Etymology: The verb "commence" is built from the Latin prefix "com-" and "initiare," which means to begin, from "initium," a beginning. Its immediate ancestor came through Anglo-Norman "comencer," which was itself a development of a reconstructed Vulgar Latin form, "cominitiare," reshaped out of "initiare" with the intensifying "com-." English took it up in the Middle English period, when it appeared in forms such as "commencen" and "comencen," and speakers sometimes trimmed it further to "comsen" or "cumsen." The same Latin root gave English "initiate," which entered the language much later and kept the sense of starting something formal or ceremonial. "Commence" has stayed closer to the plain business of setting out, so a court can commence proceedings and a season can commence without any ritual attached.

Synonyms: starting, beginning, initiating, launching, opening

Antonyms: ending, finishing, concluding, terminating