Definition of begin

"begin" in the noun sense

1. Begin, Menachem Begin

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)

"begin" in the verb sense

1. get down, begin, get, start out, start, set about, set out, commence

take the first step or steps in carrying out an action

"We began working at dawn"

"Who will start?"

"Get working as soon as the sun rises!"

"The first tourists began to arrive in Cambodia"

"He began early in the day"

"Let's get down to work now"

2. begin, start

have a beginning, in a temporal, spatial, or evaluative sense

"The DMZ begins right over the hill"

"The second movement begins after the Allegro"

"Prices for these homes start at $250,000"

3. begin, lead off, start, commence

set in motion, cause to start

"The U.S. started a war in the Middle East"

"The Iraqis began hostilities"

"begin a new chapter in your life"

4. begin

begin to speak or say

"`Now listen, friends', he began"

5. begin

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. begin

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. begin, start

have a beginning characterized in some specified way

"The novel begins with a murder"

"My property begins with the three maple trees"

"Her day begins with a workout"

"The semester begins with a convocation ceremony"

8. begin, start

begin an event that is implied and limited by the nature or inherent function of the direct object

"begin a cigar"

"She started the soup while it was still hot"

"We started physics in 10th grade"

9. begin

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

begin to speak, understand, read, and write a language

"She began Russian at an early age"

"We started French in fourth grade"

Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)

Princeton University "About WordNet®."
WordNet®. Princeton University. 2010.


View WordNet® License

Quotations for begin

No more delay, vain boaster, but begin. [ Dryden ]

Reform, like charity, must begin at home. [ Carlyle ]

Better never begin than never make an end. [ Proverb ]

Good to begin well, but better to end well. [ Proverb ]

Like a man to double business bound,
I stand in pause where I shall first begin,
And both neglect. [ William Shakespeare ]

Begin by reading thyself rather than books. [ Rumi ]

To eat and to scratch, a man need but begin. [ Proverb ]

Begin to patch up thine old body for heaven. [ William Shakespeare ]

We begin not to live, till we are fit to die. [ Proverb ]

You begin well in nothing, except you end well. [ Proverb ]

A true reformation must begin at the upper end. [ Proverb ]

Philanthropy, like charity, must begin at home. [ Lamb ]

To believe with certainty we must begin to doubt. [ Stanislaus ]

Begin nothing without considering what the end may be. [ Lady M. Montague ]

If you wish to reach the highest, begin at the lowest. [ Syrus ]

The way to live much, is to begin to live well betimes. [ Proverb ]

Begin with Argus' eyes, and finish with Briareus' hands. [ Proverb ]

When we are pleased ourselves we begin to please others. [ Proverb ]

It is nothing to begin, unless you proceed, and end well. [ Proverb ]

Languages begin by being a music, and end by being an algebra. [ Ampere ]

There is no calamity which right words will not begin to redress. [ Emerson ]

Before you begin, consider well; and when you have considered, act. [ Sall ]

Music must begin in harmony, continue in harmony, and end in harmony. [ Confucius ]

Friendships begin with liking or gratitude - roots that can be pulled up. [ George Eliot ]

After love friendship (when we have lived through love we begin friendship). [ Heine ]

Begin whatever you have to do: the beginning of a work stands for the whole. [ Ausonius ]

The eyes of our souls only then begin to see when our bodily eyes are closing. [ William Law ]

Who would venture upon the journey of life, if compelled to begin it at the end? [ Mme. de Maintenon ]

Men, like peaches and pears, grow sweet a little while before they begin to decay. [ Holmes ]

Life is a kind of sleep: old men sleep longest, nor begin to wake but when they are to die. [ De La Bruyere ]

The joy of heaven will begin as soon as we attain the character of heaven, and do its duties. [ Theodore Parker ]

Wrongs do not leave off there where they begin, but still beget new mischiefs in their course. [ Daniel ]

Begin by regarding every thing from a moral point of view, and you will end by believing in God. [ Dr. Arnold ]

Romance should never begin with sentiment. It should begin with science and end with a settlement. [ Oscar Wilde, An Ideal Husband ]

Begin; to begin is half the work. Let half still remain; again begin this, and thou wilt have finished. [ Ausonius ]

It is the fate of the great ones of the earth to begin to be appreciated by us only after they are gone. [ Old Ger. saying ]

They begin with making falsehood appear like truth, and end with making truth itself appear like falsehood. [ Shenstone ]

Children begin by loving their parents; after a time they judge them, rarely, if ever, do they forgive them. [ Oscar Wilde, A Woman of No Importance ]

Games of chance are traps to catch schoolboy novices and gaping country squires, who begin with a guinea and end with a mortgage. [ Cumberland ]

If the world does improve on the whole, yet youth must always begin anew, and go through the stages of culture from the beginning. [ Goethe ]

The hapless wit has his labors always to begin, the call of novelty is never satisfied, and one jest only raises expectation of another. [ Samuel Johnson ]

Life is as a slate where all our sins are written: from time to time we rub the sponge of repentance over it, in order to begin to sin anew.

A more glorious victory cannot be gained over another man than this, that when the injury began on his part, the kindness should begin on ours. [ Tillotson ]

You begin in error when you suggest that we should regard the opinion of the many about just and unjust, good and evil, honourable and dishonourable. [ Plato ]

In contemplation, if a man begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts, but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties. [ Bacon ]

A leveller has long ago been set down as a ridiculous and chimerical being, who, if he could finish his work today, would have to begin it again tomorrow. [ Colton ]

There comes a time when the souls of human beings, women more even than men, begin to faint for the atmosphere of the affections they are made to breathe. [ Holmes ]

Leave a friend! So base I am not. I followed him in his prosperity, when the skies were clear and shining, and will not leave him when storms begin to rise. [ Metastasio ]

In order that a love-letter may be what it should be, one should begin it without knowing what he is going to say, and end it without knowing what he has said. [ Raison ]

I am told so many ill things of a man, and I see so few in him, that I begin to suspect he has a real but troublesome merit, as being likely to eclipse that of others. [ Bruyere ]

Many have puzzled themselves about the origin of evil. I am content to observe that there is evil, and that there is a way to escape from it; and with this I begin and end. [ John Newton ]

Madness is consistent, which is more than can be said for poor reason. Our passions and principles are steady in frenzy, but begin to shift and waver as we return to reason. [ Sterne ]

After the sleep of death we are to gather up our forces again with the incalculable results of this life, a crown of shame or glory upon our heads, and begin again on a new level of progress. [ Hugh R. Haweis ]

To give pleasure to others and take it ourselves, we have to begin by removing the ego, which is hateful, and then keep it in chains as long as the diversions last. There is no worse killjoy than the ego. [ Charles Wagner ]

Doubtless botany has its value; but the flowers knew how to preach divinity before men knew how to dissect and botanize them; they are apt to stop preaching, though, so soon as we begin to dissect and botanize them. [ H. N. Hudson ]

Let your pen fail, begin to trifle with blotting-paper, look at the ceiling, bite your nails, and otherwise dally with your purpose, and you waste your time, scatter your thoughts, and repress the nervous energy necessary for your task. [ G. H. Lewes ]

In all societies, it is advisable to associate if possible with the highest; not that the highest are always the best, but because, if disgusted there, we can at any time descend; but if we begin with the lowest, to ascend is impossible. [ Colton ]

When a child can be brought to tears, not from fear of punishment, but from repentance for his offence, he needs no chastisement. When the tears begin to flow from grief at one's own conduct, be sure there is an angel nestling in the bosom. [ Horace Mann ]

Perhaps God does with His heavenly garden as we do with our own. He may chiefly stock it from nurseries, and select for transplanting what is yet in its young and tender age - flowers before they have bloomed, and trees ere they begin to bear. [ Rev. Dr. Guthrie ]

Genius has privileges of its own; it selects an orbit for itself; and be this never so eccentric, if it is indeed a celestial orbit, we mere star-gazers must at last compose ourselves, must cease to cavil at it, and begin to observe it and calculate its laws. [ Carlyle ]

It were happy if we studied nature more in natural things; and acted according to nature, whose rules are few, plain, and most reasonable. Let us begin where she begins, go her pace, and close always where she ends, and we cannot miss of being good naturalists. [ William Penn ]

If you lend a person any money, it becomes lost for any purpose as one's own. When you ask for it back again, you may find a friend made an enemy by your kindness. If you begin to press still further either you must part with that which you have intrusted, or else you must lose that friend. [ Plautus ]

Men pursue riches under the idea that their possession will set them at pace, and above the world. But the law of association often makes those who begin by loving gold as a servant finish by becoming themselves its slaves; and independence without wealth is at least as common as wealth without independence. [ Colton ]

Metaphysicians have been learning their lessons for the last four thousand years, and it is high time that they should now begin to teach us something. Can any of the tribe inform us why all the operations of the mind are carried on with undiminished strength and activity in dreams, except the judgment, which alone is suspended and dormant? [ Colton ]

We have no permanent habits until we are forty. Then they begin to harden, presently they petrify, then business begins. Since forty I have been regular about going to bed and getting up - and that is one of the main things. I have made it a rule to go to bed when there wasn't anybody left to sit up with; and I have made it a rule to get up when I had to. This has resulted in an unswerving regularity of irregularity. It has saved me sound, but it would injure another person. [ Mark Twain, Seventieth Birthday speech ]

begin in Scrabble®

The word begin is playable in Scrabble®, no blanks required.

Scrabble® Letter Score: 8

Highest Scoring Scrabble® Plays In The Letters begin:

BEING
(33)
BEGIN
(33)
BINGE
(33)
 

All Scrabble® Plays For The Word begin

BEGIN
(33)
BEGIN
(28)
BEGIN
(27)
BEGIN
(27)
BEGIN
(27)
BEGIN
(24)
BEGIN
(24)
BEGIN
(24)
BEGIN
(22)
BEGIN
(22)
BEGIN
(20)
BEGIN
(18)
BEGIN
(18)
BEGIN
(16)
BEGIN
(16)
BEGIN
(16)
BEGIN
(16)
BEGIN
(16)
BEGIN
(16)
BEGIN
(13)
BEGIN
(12)
BEGIN
(12)
BEGIN
(11)
BEGIN
(10)
BEGIN
(10)
BEGIN
(10)
BEGIN
(10)
BEGIN
(9)
BEGIN
(9)
BEGIN
(8)

The 200 Highest Scoring Scrabble® Plays For Words Using The Letters In begin

BEING
(33)
BEGIN
(33)
BINGE
(33)
BEING
(30)
BINGE
(30)
BEING
(28)
BEGIN
(28)
BINGE
(28)
BEGIN
(27)
BEGIN
(27)
BEING
(27)
BINGE
(27)
BEGIN
(27)
BEING
(27)
BINGE
(27)
BEGIN
(24)
BEING
(24)
BEING
(24)
BEGIN
(24)
BINGE
(24)
BEGIN
(24)
BINGE
(24)
BEING
(24)
BINGE
(24)
BEING
(24)
BEING
(22)
BEGIN
(22)
BINGE
(22)
BEGIN
(22)
BEING
(22)
BINGE
(22)
BINGE
(20)
BEING
(20)
BEGIN
(20)
BEING
(20)
BEGIN
(18)
BIG
(18)
BIG
(18)
BIG
(18)
BEGIN
(18)
BINGE
(18)
BINGE
(18)
BEG
(18)
BEING
(18)
BEG
(18)
BEG
(18)
BEGIN
(16)
BINGE
(16)
BEING
(16)
BEING
(16)
BINGE
(16)
BEING
(16)
BINGE
(16)
BEING
(16)
BINGE
(16)
BEGIN
(16)
BEING
(16)
BINGE
(16)
BEGIN
(16)
BEGIN
(16)
BINGE
(16)
BEGIN
(16)
BEGIN
(16)
BEN
(15)
BEN
(15)
NIB
(15)
BIN
(15)
NIB
(15)
BIN
(15)
BIN
(15)
BEN
(15)
NIB
(15)
BEING
(13)
BEGIN
(13)
GIN
(12)
GIN
(12)
BIG
(12)
GIN
(12)
BINGE
(12)
BINGE
(12)
BIG
(12)
BIG
(12)
BINGE
(12)
BIG
(12)
BEG
(12)
BE
(12)
BEGIN
(12)
BE
(12)
BEING
(12)
BEG
(12)
BEG
(12)
BEGIN
(12)
BEG
(12)
BEGIN
(11)
BIN
(11)
BEING
(11)
BIG
(11)
BINGE
(11)
BEG
(11)
BEN
(11)
NIB
(11)
BIN
(10)
BEGIN
(10)
BEGIN
(10)
BINGE
(10)
BINGE
(10)
BINGE
(10)
BEGIN
(10)
BINGE
(10)
BEG
(10)
NIB
(10)
BIN
(10)
BIN
(10)
BEGIN
(10)
BE
(10)
BEN
(10)
BEING
(10)
NIB
(10)
BEN
(10)
BEING
(10)
BIG
(10)
NIB
(10)
BEN
(10)
BEING
(10)
BEING
(10)
BINGE
(9)
BEING
(9)
BEGIN
(9)
NIB
(9)
BINGE
(9)
BEING
(9)
BEN
(9)
BEGIN
(9)
BIG
(9)
BEING
(9)
BIN
(9)
BEG
(9)
BE
(8)
BEG
(8)
BE
(8)
BEN
(8)
NIB
(8)
GIN
(8)
BEG
(8)
GIN
(8)
GIN
(8)
BEGIN
(8)
BIN
(8)
BIG
(8)
BIG
(8)
GIN
(8)
BEING
(8)
BINGE
(8)
BEN
(7)
NIB
(7)
BE
(7)
GIN
(7)
BIN
(7)
BIN
(7)
BEG
(7)
NIB
(7)
BEN
(7)
BIG
(7)
IN
(6)
IN
(6)
NIB
(6)
GIN
(6)
NIB
(6)
BE
(6)
BEN
(6)
GIN
(6)
BIG
(6)
BEG
(6)
BIN
(6)
BIN
(6)
EN
(6)
BEN
(6)
EN
(6)
GIN
(6)
NIB
(5)
BIN
(5)
BEN
(5)
GIN
(5)
GIN
(5)
BE
(5)
EN
(4)
EN
(4)
IN
(4)
IN
(4)
IN
(4)
IN
(4)
EN
(4)
EN
(4)
GIN
(4)
BE
(4)
IN
(3)
EN
(3)
EN
(3)
IN
(3)
EN
(2)

begin in Words With Friends™

The word begin is playable in Words With Friends™, no blanks required.

Words With Friends™ Letter Score: 11

Highest Scoring Words With Friends™ Plays In The Letters begin:

BINGE
(57)
BEGIN
(57)
BEING
(57)
 

All Words With Friends™ Plays For The Word begin

BEGIN
(57)
BEGIN
(45)
BEGIN
(44)
BEGIN
(39)
BEGIN
(39)
BEGIN
(38)
BEGIN
(33)
BEGIN
(33)
BEGIN
(33)
BEGIN
(30)
BEGIN
(30)
BEGIN
(26)
BEGIN
(25)
BEGIN
(24)
BEGIN
(24)
BEGIN
(23)
BEGIN
(22)
BEGIN
(22)
BEGIN
(22)
BEGIN
(22)
BEGIN
(22)
BEGIN
(21)
BEGIN
(21)
BEGIN
(19)
BEGIN
(18)
BEGIN
(17)
BEGIN
(17)
BEGIN
(16)
BEGIN
(16)
BEGIN
(15)
BEGIN
(15)
BEGIN
(14)
BEGIN
(14)
BEGIN
(13)
BEGIN
(13)
BEGIN
(13)
BEGIN
(13)
BEGIN
(12)
BEGIN
(12)
BEGIN
(11)

The 200 Highest Scoring Words With Friends™ Plays Using The Letters In begin

BINGE
(57)
BEGIN
(57)
BEING
(57)
BEING
(51)
BINGE
(51)
BEING
(45)
BEGIN
(45)
BEING
(44)
BINGE
(44)
BEGIN
(44)
BEGIN
(39)
BINGE
(39)
BEGIN
(39)
BEING
(39)
BINGE
(39)
BEING
(38)
BEGIN
(38)
BINGE
(38)
BEING
(34)
BEGIN
(33)
BINGE
(33)
BEGIN
(33)
BEGIN
(33)
BEING
(33)
BEING
(33)
BINGE
(33)
BINGE
(33)
BEING
(33)
BEING
(30)
BEGIN
(30)
BINGE
(30)
BEGIN
(30)
BEING
(28)
BINGE
(28)
BEING
(26)
BINGE
(26)
BEGIN
(26)
BEGIN
(25)
BEING
(25)
BEING
(24)
BEG
(24)
BIG
(24)
BEGIN
(24)
BEGIN
(24)
BIG
(24)
BEG
(24)
BINGE
(24)
BINGE
(24)
BEG
(24)
BIG
(24)
BINGE
(23)
BEGIN
(23)
BEING
(22)
BEGIN
(22)
BEING
(22)
BEING
(22)
BEING
(22)
BEING
(22)
BEING
(22)
BINGE
(22)
BINGE
(22)
BINGE
(22)
BEG
(22)
BINGE
(22)
BEGIN
(22)
BINGE
(22)
BEGIN
(22)
BEGIN
(22)
BIG
(22)
BEGIN
(22)
BIN
(21)
BIN
(21)
BEN
(21)
BIN
(21)
BEING
(21)
BEING
(21)
BEN
(21)
BINGE
(21)
NIB
(21)
NIB
(21)
NIB
(21)
BEN
(21)
BEGIN
(21)
BEGIN
(21)
BINGE
(20)
NIB
(19)
BINGE
(19)
BEGIN
(19)
BIN
(19)
BEING
(19)
BEN
(19)
BEING
(18)
BEGIN
(18)
GIN
(18)
GIN
(18)
GIN
(18)
BINGE
(18)
BINGE
(17)
BEGIN
(17)
BINGE
(17)
BINGE
(17)
BEGIN
(17)
BEING
(17)
BINGE
(17)
BEING
(17)
BEGIN
(16)
BIG
(16)
BEG
(16)
BIG
(16)
BEGIN
(16)
BINGE
(16)
BIG
(16)
BEG
(16)
BEING
(16)
BEG
(16)
GIN
(16)
BEG
(16)
BIG
(16)
BINGE
(15)
BIG
(15)
BIN
(15)
BEG
(15)
BINGE
(15)
BINGE
(15)
BEING
(15)
BEGIN
(15)
BEING
(15)
BEING
(15)
NIB
(15)
BEGIN
(15)
BE
(15)
BEING
(15)
BEN
(15)
BE
(15)
BINGE
(14)
NIB
(14)
BEGIN
(14)
NIB
(14)
BIN
(14)
BEING
(14)
BIG
(14)
BEG
(14)
BIN
(14)
BINGE
(14)
BEING
(14)
NIB
(14)
BIN
(14)
BEN
(14)
BEN
(14)
BEGIN
(14)
BEN
(14)
NIB
(13)
BINGE
(13)
BEGIN
(13)
BE
(13)
BINGE
(13)
BEING
(13)
BINGE
(13)
BIN
(13)
BEN
(13)
BEING
(13)
BEGIN
(13)
BEING
(13)
BEGIN
(13)
BEGIN
(13)
BIG
(12)
GIN
(12)
BINGE
(12)
GIN
(12)
GIN
(12)
BEGIN
(12)
BEING
(12)
BEG
(12)
BEGIN
(12)
GIN
(12)
BINGE
(12)
BEING
(12)
GIN
(11)
BEING
(11)
BEN
(11)
BEN
(11)
NIB
(11)
BINGE
(11)
BEG
(11)
BIN
(11)
BIN
(11)
BIG
(11)
NIB
(11)
BEGIN
(11)
BE
(10)
BIG
(10)
BEG
(10)
GIN
(10)
BE
(10)
BEN
(9)
IN
(9)
GIN
(9)
IN
(9)
NIB
(9)
BEN
(9)

Words within the letters of begin

2 letter words in begin (3 words)

3 letter words in begin (6 words)

5 letter words in begin (Anagrams) (3 words)

begin + 1 blank (7 words)

Words containing the sequence begin

Words that start with begin (7 words)

Words with begin in them (5 words)

Words that end with begin (2 words)

Word Growth involving begin

Shorter words in begin

be beg

in gin

Longer words containing begin

beginner beginners rebeginners

beginner rebeginner rebeginners

beginning beginningless

beginning beginnings

beginning rebeginning

begins rebegins

rebegin rebeginner rebeginners

rebegin rebeginning

rebegin rebegins