Definition of "commence" []

• To begin; start. (verb-transitive)
• To enter upon or have a beginning; start. See Synonyms at begin. (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Nevertheless, his book carries in it a certain large suggestion; it contains many excellent observations; its tone is unexceptionable; the style is firm and clear, though heavy and disfigured by such intolerable barbarisms as "commence to" walk, talk, or the like, -- the use of the infinitive instead of the participle after _commence_."
• "Donaghy, who pleaded guilty in New York to conspiracy to engage in wire fraud and transmitting betting information through interstate commence, is serving a 15-month sentence."
• "Legal interpretation of the Geneva Conventions did commence from the higher levels of the administration."