1. Take the first step or steps in carrying out an action
   "We began working at dawn"; "The first tourists began to arrive in Cambodia"; "He began early in the day";
   - get down, get, start out, start, set about, set out
    
2. Have a beginning, in a temporal, spatial, or evaluative sense
   "The DMZ begins right over the hill"; "The second movement begins after the Allegro";
   - start
    
3. Set in motion, cause to start
   "The Iraqis began hostilities"; "begin a new chapter in your life";
   - lead off, start, commence
    
4. Start speaking or saying
   "‘Now listen, friends’, he began"
    
5. Be the first item or point, constitute the beginning or start, come first in a series
   "The convocation ceremony officially begins the semester"; "The number ‘one’ begins the sequence"; "A terrible murder begins the novel"
    
6. 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"
    
7. Have a beginning characterized in some specified way
   "My property begins with the three maple trees"; "Her day begins with a workout"; "The semester begins with a convocation ceremony"; "The novel begins with a murder";
   - start
    
8. Begin an event that is implied and limited by the nature or inherent function of the direct object
   "begin a cigar";
   - start
    
9. Begin to speak, understand, read, and write a language
   "She began Russian at an early age"; "we began French in fourth grade"
    
10. 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"

1. 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)
   - Menachem Begin

Derived forms: begun, begins, beginning

Type of: accomplish, achieve, act, attain, be, cause, change, exist, get, have, induce, make, mouth, move, national leader, reach, speak, statesperson, stimulate, talk, utter, verbalise [Brit], verbalize

Antonym: end, stop

Encyclopedia: Begin, Menachem Wolfovitch