commencement

Also found in: Thesaurus, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

com·mence·ment

(kə-mĕns′mənt)

1. A beginning; a start.

a. A ceremony at which academic degrees or diplomas are conferred.

b. The day on which such a ceremony occurs.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

commencement

(kəˈmɛnsmənt)

1. the beginning; start

2. (Education)

a. US and Canadian a ceremony for the presentation of awards at secondary schools

b. US a ceremony for the conferment of academic degrees

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

com•mence•ment

(kəˈmɛns mənt)

n.

1. an act of commencing; beginning: the commencement of hostilities.

2. the ceremony of conferring degrees or granting diplomas at the end of the academic year.

3. the day this ceremony takes place.

[1225–75; Middle English < Anglo-French, Old French]

commencement

A ceremony at which school diplomas or academic degrees are awarded to students.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun	1.	commencement - the time at which something is supposed to begin; "they got an early start"; "she knew from the get-go that he was the man for her" get-go, offset, outset, showtime, starting time, start, kickoff, beginning, first birth - the time when something begins (especially life); "they divorced after the birth of the child"; "his election signaled the birth of a new age" incipience, incipiency - beginning to exist or to be apparent; "he placed the incipience of democratic faith at around 1850"; "it is designed to arrest monopolies in their incipiency" point in time, point - an instant of time; "at that point I had to leave" starting point, terminus a quo - earliest limiting point threshold - the starting point for a new state or experience; "on the threshold of manhood"
	2.	commencement - an academic exercise in which diplomas are conferred commencement ceremony, commencement exercise, graduation exercise, graduation baccalaureate - a farewell sermon to a graduating class at their commencement ceremonies exercise - (usually plural) a ceremony that involves processions and speeches; "academic exercises"
	3.	commencement - the act of starting something; "he was responsible for the beginning of negotiations" beginning, start change of state - the act of changing something into something different in essential characteristics jumping-off point, point of departure, springboard - a beginning from which an enterprise is launched; "he uses other people's ideas as a springboard for his own"; "reality provides the jumping-off point for his illusions"; "the point of departure of international comparison cannot be an institution but must be the function it carries out" activation - making active and effective (as a bomb) tone-beginning, attack - a decisive manner of beginning a musical tone or phrase establishment, constitution, formation, organisation, organization - the act of forming or establishing something; "the constitution of a PTA group last year"; "it was the establishment of his reputation"; "he still remembers the organization of the club" first appearance, introduction, debut, entry, launching, unveiling - the act of beginning something new; "they looked forward to the debut of their new product line" face-off - (ice hockey) the method of starting play; a referee drops the puck between two opposing players first step, opening move, initiative, opening - the first of a series of actions groundbreaking, groundbreaking ceremony - the ceremonial breaking of the ground to formally begin a construction project housing start - the act of starting to construct a house icebreaker - a beginning that relaxes a tense or formal atmosphere; "he told jokes as an icebreaker" inauguration, startup - the act of starting a new operation or practice; "he opposed the inauguration of fluoridation"; "the startup of the new factory was delayed by strikes" founding, instauration, origination, initiation, innovation, creation, institution, introduction, foundation - the act of starting something for the first time; introducing something new; "she looked forward to her initiation as an adult"; "the foundation of a new scientific society" installation, installing, instalment, installment - the act of installing something (as equipment); "the telephone installation took only a few minutes" jump ball - (basketball) the way play begins or resumes when possession is disputed; an official tosses the ball up between two players who jump in an effort to tap it to a teammate kickoff - (football) a kick from the center of the field to start a football game or to resume it after a score recommencement, resumption - beginning again scrum, scrummage - (rugby) the method of beginning play in which the forwards of each team crouch side by side with locked arms; play starts when the ball is thrown in between them and the two sides compete for possession startup - the act of setting in operation; "repeated shutdowns and startups are expensive"

commencement

noun beginning, start, opening, launch, birth, origin, dawn, outset, onset, initiation, inauguration, inception, embarkation All applicants should be at least 16 years of age at the commencement of this course.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

commencement

noun

1. The act or process of bringing or being brought into existence:

beginning, inauguration, inception, incipience, incipiency, initiation, launch, leadoff, opening, origination, start.

Informal: kickoff.

2. The initial stage of a developmental process:

beginning, birth, dawn, genesis, inception, nascence, nascency, onset, opening, origin, outset, spring, start.

Translations

بَدْء، ابْتِداءحَفْلَة تَخْريج

datum vznikupromocezačátekzahájení

årsafslutningbegyndelsepåbegyndelsetranslokation

Beginn Abschlussfeier

commencement début

avatási napdiplomaavató ünnepély

byrjun, upphaf

giorno del conferimento lauree principio

eksamenshøytidelighet

slávnostné ukončenie školského roka

başlamabaşlangıçdiploma töreni

开始毕业典礼

commencement

[kəˈmensmənt] N

1. (frm) (= start) → comienzo m, principio m

2. (US) (Univ) → (ceremonia f de) graduación f, (ceremonia f de) entrega f de diplomas

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

commencement

[kəˈmɛnsmənt] n

(= beginning) → commencement m

(US) (= graduation) → remise f des diplômes

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

commencement

(form) → Beginn m

(Univ, Cambridge, Dublin, US) → Abschlussfeier f (zur Verleihung der Diplome etc)

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

commencement

[kəˈmɛnsmənt] n (frm) → inizio

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

commence

(kəˈmens) verb

to begin. the church service commenced with a hymn.

comˈmencement noun

1. beginning.

2. a ceremony at which students receive their diplomas or degrees.

References in classic literature ?

But I do not pretend that I should ever have suspected how poor a record of the mutations of life, the best preserved geological section presented, had not the difficulty of our not discovering innumerable transitional links between the species which appeared at the commencement and close of each formation, pressed so hardly on my theory.

View in context

Mama's going to your Commencement. She asked me the other day if I knew what your oration is to be about.

View in context

It was consequently necessary to name some other period for the commencement of actual felicity-- to have some other point on which her wishes and hopes might be fixed, and by again enjoying the pleasure of anticipation, console herself for the present, and prepare for another disappointment.

View in context

When the doctors were left alone, the family doctor began timidly explaining his opinion, that there was a commencement of tuberculous trouble, but...and so on.

View in context

An ancestor of Marmaduke Temple had, about one hundred and twenty years before the commencement of our tale, come to the colony of Pennsylvania, a friend and co-religionist of its great patron.

View in context

The commencement of his speech had obviously been made with the intention of demonstrating the advantages of his position and showing that he was nevertheless willing to negotiate.

View in context

As the President is to be elected for no more than four years, it can rarely happen that an adequate salary, fixed at the commencement of that period, will not continue to be such to its end.

View in context

Granting that the question at present was simply that of sending a projectile up to the moon, every one must see that that involved the commencement of a series of experiments.

View in context

Suddenly I came to myself and, with that strange instinct which seems ever to prompt me to my duty, I seized the cudgel, which had fallen to the floor at the commencement of the battle, and swinging it with all the power of my earthly arms I crashed it full upon the head of the ape, crushing his skull as though it had been an eggshell.

View in context

The badly employed are those which, notwithstanding they may be few in the commencement, multiply with time rather than decrease.

View in context

"But there is reason to believe that President Dunster sat in it, when he held the first Commencement at Harvard College.

View in context

It was finally settled that this should be our plan; and that inquiries and preparations should immediately be set on foot; and while my mother busied herself with these, I should return to Horton Lodge at the close of my four weeks' vacation, and give notice for my final departure when things were in train for the speedy commencement of our school.