"commence" 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, 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"

3. start, start up, embark on, commence

get off the ground

"Who started this company?"

"We embarked on an exciting enterprise"

"I start my day with a good breakfast"

"We began the new semester"

"The afternoon session begins at 4 PM"

"The blood shed started when the partisans launched a surprise attack"

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

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