beginning
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
Commencement of an action, state, or space of time.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
bihginingSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
bɪˈɡɪnɪŋ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The place where something begins, where it springs into being
“The Italian beginning of the Renaissance.”
uncountable
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.
That which begins or originates something; the source or first cause.
The time at which something is supposed to begin
The initial portion of some extended thing.
That which is begun; a rudiment or element.
adjective
informal
Being the first portion of some extended thing.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The place where something begins, where it springs into being
Used this way, beginning is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“The Italian beginning of the Renaissance.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Usage note
It most often appears in the pattern “beginning of …”, which is worth copying when you use it.
Natural pattern: beginning of …
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use beginning
- “The Italian beginning of the Renaissance.”noun
- “`It was a dark and stormy night' is a hackneyed beginning for a story.”noun
- “He was responsible for the beginning of negotiations.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
The place where something begins, where it springs into being.
The time at which something is supposed to begin.
A time at which something begins.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Someone new to a field or activity.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Use of the same consonant at the beginning of each stressed syllable in a line of verse.
With reference to the origin or beginning.
A decisive manner of beginning a musical tone or phrase.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Antonyms
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.