begin

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”

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”

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”

begin to speak or say

• “Now listen, friends,”

be the first item or point, constitute the beginning or start, come first in a series

• “The number”
• “begins the sequence”
• “A terrible murder begins the novel”
• “The convocation ceremoney officially begins the semester”

have a beginning, of a temporal event

• “WWII began in 1939 when Hitler marched into Poland”
• “The company”

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 work-out”
• “The semester begins with a convocation ceremony”

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”

achieve or accomplish in the least degree, usually used in the negative

• “This economic measure doesn”
• “;”

begin to speak, understand, read, and write a language

• “She began Russian at an early age”
• “We started French in fourth grade”

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)