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# commence

«commence» in Mova's school dictionary: **To begin or start** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

verb (commence, commences, commenced, commencing)

### meaning for a pupil

(formal) To begin or start. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/commence/#m1)

### sense in the lessons

A stiff official and exam word: "the exam will commence at nine". In maths problems: "the race commenced at 2:15" gives the start time. Phrases: commence work, commence the test.

### examples

- The exam will commence in five minutes. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/commence/#x1)
- Building work commenced on the new library. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/commence/#x2)
- Please commence writing now. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/commence/#x3)
- The concert commenced at 7 pm and ended at 9 pm. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/commence/#x4)
- The ceremony will commence with a song. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/commence/#x5)
- Lessons commence at 8:45 each morning. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/commence/#x6)
- "After that," continued the North Wind, "the hunting commenced. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/commence/#x7)

### note

Formal; in everyday talk say "begin" or "start". Noun: commencement (in the USA, a graduation ceremony). In time problems, the commence time is the start time: duration = end minus start.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «commence» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/commence/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.