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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, commence
    
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 number 'one' begins the sequence"; "A terrible murder begins the novel"; "The convocation ceremony officially begins the semester"
    
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. 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"
    
10. Begin to speak, understand, read, and write a language
    "She began Russian at an early age"; "we began French in fourth grade"

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: beginning, begins, begun

Type of: accomplish, achieve, act, attain, be, mouth, move, national leader, reach, speak, statesman, statesperson, talk, utter, verbalise [Brit], verbalize

Encyclopedia: Begin, Menachem Wolfovitch