'Beginning' definitions:
Definition of 'beginning'
From: WordNet
adjective
Serving to begin; "the beginning canto of the poem"; "the first verse" [syn: beginning(a), first]
noun
The event consisting of the start of something; "the beginning of the war" [ant: conclusion, ending, finish]
noun
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" [syn: beginning, commencement, first, outset, get-go, start, kickoff, starting time, showtime, offset] [ant: end, ending, middle]
noun
The first part or section of something; "`It was a dark and stormy night' is a hackneyed beginning for a story" [ant: end, middle]
noun
The place where something begins, where it springs into being; "the Italian beginning of the Renaissance"; "Jupiter was the origin of the radiation"; "Pittsburgh is the source of the Ohio River"; "communism's Russian root" [syn: beginning, origin, root, rootage, source]
noun
The act of starting something; "he was responsible for the beginning of negotiations" [syn: beginning, start, commencement] [ant: finish, finishing]
Definition of 'Beginning'
From: GCIDE
- Begin \Be*gin"\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Began, Begun; p. pr. & vb. n. Beginning.] [AS. beginnan (akin to OS. biginnan, D. & G. beginnen, OHG. biginnan, Goth., du-ginnan, Sw. begynna, Dan. begynde); pref. be- + an assumed ginnan. [root]31. See Gin to begin.]
- 1. To have or commence an independent or first existence; to take rise; to commence. [1913 Webster]
- Vast chain of being! which from God began. --Pope. [1913 Webster]
- 2. To do the first act or the first part of an action; to enter upon or commence something new, as a new form or state of being, or course of action; to take the first step; to start. "Tears began to flow." --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
- When I begin, I will also make an end. --1 Sam. iii. 12. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Beginning'
From: GCIDE
- Beginning \Be*gin"ning\, 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. [1913 Webster]
- In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. --Gen. i. 1. [1913 Webster]
- 2. That which begins or originates something; the first cause; origin; source. [1913 Webster]
- I am . . . the beginning and the ending. --Rev. i. 8. [1913 Webster]
- 3. That which is begun; a rudiment or element. [1913 Webster]
- Mighty things from small beginnings grow. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
- 4. Enterprise. "To hinder our beginnings." --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- Syn: Inception; prelude; opening; threshold; origin; outset; foundation. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'beginning'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- abecedarian,
- aboriginal,
- alpha,
- anlage,
- antenatal,
- anticipation,
- appearance,
- authorship,
- autochthonous,
- babyhood,
- basal,
- beginnings,
- birth,
- budding,
- childhood,
- coinage,
- commencement,
- conception,
- concoction,
- contrivance,
- contriving,
- cradle,
- creation,
- creative,
- creative effort,
- dawn,
- dawning,
- day,
- derivation,
- devising,
- earliness,
- early hour,
- early stage,
- elemental,
- elementary,
- embryonic,
- emergence,
- fabrication,
- fetal,
- first crack,
- first stage,
- foresight,
- formative,
- foundational,
- freshman year,
- fundamental,
- generation,
- genesis,
- gestatory,
- grass roots,
- ground floor,
- hatching,
- head,
- head start,
- improvisation,
- in embryo,
- in its infancy,
- in the bud,
- inaugural,
- inception,
- inceptive,
- inchoate,
- inchoation,
- inchoative,
- incipience,
- incipiency,
- incipient,
- incunabula,
- incunabular,
- infancy,
- infant,
- infantile,
- initial,
- initiative,
- initiatory,
- introductory,
- invention,
- inventive,
- making do,
- mintage,
- nascence,
- nascency,
- nascent,
- natal,
- nativity,
- onset,
- opening,
- origin,
- original,
- origination,
- outset,
- outstart,
- parturient,
- parturition,
- postnatal,
- pregnancy,
- pregnant,
- prenatal,
- prevenience,
- prevision,
- primal,
- primary,
- prime,
- primeval,
- primitive,
- primogenial,
- procreative,
- prologue,
- provenience,
- radical,
- radix,
- readiness,
- rise,
- root,
- rudiment,
- rudimental,
- rudimentary,
- running start,
- setout,
- source,
- spring,
- sprout,
- start,
- stem,
- stock,
- taproot,
- time to spare,
- ur,
- very beginning,
- youth