Beginning, n.
1. The act of doing that which begins anything; commencement of an action, state, or space of time; entrance into being or upon a course; the first act, effort, or state of a succession of acts or states. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Gen. i. 1.
2. That which begins or originates something; the first cause; origin; source. I am . . . the beginning and the ending. Rev. i. 8.
3. That which is begun; a rudiment or element. Mighty things from small beginnings grow. Dryden.
4. Enterprise. "To hinder our beginnings." Shak.
1 more senses
Syn. -- Inception; prelude; opening; threshold; origin; outset; foundation.
Shades of meaning
The Latin commencement is more formal than the Saxon beginning, as the verb commence, is more formal than begin. Commencement is for the most part restricted to some form of action, while beginning has no restriction, but may be applied to action, state, material, extent, enumeration, or to whatever else may be conceived of as having a first part, point, degree, etc. The letter A is at the beginning (not the commencement) of every alphabet. If we were to speak of the commencement of the Pacific Railroad, we should be understood to refer to the enterprise and its initiatory act; if we were to refer to the roadway we should say "Here is the beginning of the Pacific Railroad." In the great majority of cases begin and beginning are preferable to commence and commencement as the simple, idiomatic English words, always accurate and expressive. "In the beginning was the word," John i, 1. An origin is the point from which something starts or sets out, often involving, and always suggesting causal connection; as, the origin of evil; the origin of a nation, a government, or a family. A source is that which furnishes a first and continuous supply, that which flows forth freely or may be readily recurred to; as, the source of a river; a source of knowledge; a source of inspiration; fertile land is a source (not an origin) of wealth. A rise is thought of as in an action; we say that a lake is the source of a certain river, or that the river takes its rise from the lake. Motley wrote of "The Rise of the Dutch Republic." Fount, fountain, and spring, in their figurative senses, keep close to their literal meaning. Compare cause.