commencement

1. 1.

   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”

   Synonymsbeginningfirstoutsetget-gostartkickoffstarting timeshowtimeoffset

   Broaderpoint

   Narrowerbirthincipiencyterminus a quothreshold
2. 2.

   an academic exercise in which diplomas are conferred

   Synonymscommencement exercisecommencement ceremonygraduationgraduation exercise

   Broaderexercise

   Partsbaccalaureate
3. 3.

   the act of starting something

   “he was responsible for the beginning of negotiations”

   Synonymsbeginningstart

   Broaderchange of state

   NarrowerspringboardactivationattackconstitutionCreationintroductionface-offfirst stepgroundbreakinghousing start

Other forms of commencement

plural

commencements·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about commencement

What does commencement mean?

commencement means "the time at which something is supposed to begin". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in commencement?

commencement has 3 syllables: com-men-cement. The stress falls on "men". In IPA it is /kəˈmɛnsmənt/.

What is another word for commencement?

Close synonyms include beginning, first, outset, get-go, start. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is commencement a common word?

commencement is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.