American English pronunciation
How to pronounce begin
IPA transcription: [bɪ'ɡɪn]
Hear “begin” pronounced
[bɪ'ɡɪn]
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[bɪ'ɡɪn]
Quality: 1.00
[bɪ'ɡɪn]
Quality: 1.00
Noun
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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)
Verb
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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”
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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”
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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”
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begin to speak or say; he began
“Now listen, friends,”
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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”
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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”
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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”
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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”
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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”
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begin to speak, understand, read, and write a language
“She began Russian at an early age”
“We started French in fourth grade”
Usage examples
- She begins talking about being in love, and Dong-hee.
- China's population growth has slowed since the beginning of this century.
- Several miles into Scott County, the stream begins a westerly trend.
- A woman begins to climb onto her bike.
- The omens will begin insistently to speak of it, and you'll try to ignore them.
- It was featured during the train scene in the beginning of the movie.
- Finally, Hex discovers that, as his name suggests, he was cursed from the beginning.
- From these beginnings, artifacts have evolved to their current complexity.
- You can't begin to spend all the money you've got.
- The mariner's tale begins with his ship departing on its journey.