{
    "term": "commence",
    "partOfSpeech": "verb",
    "academic": true,
    "ox5000": true,
    "cefr": "c1",
    "verbForms": {
        "presentSimple": {
            "iYouWeThey": "commence",
            "heSheIt": "commences"
        },
        "pastSimple": "commenced",
        "pastParticiple": "commenced",
        "ingForm": "commencing"
    },
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "to begin to happen; to begin something",
            "sensetop": "commence with somethingcommence somethingcommence doing somethingcommence to do something",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "The meeting is scheduled to commence at noon."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I will be on leave during the week commencing 15 February."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The day commenced with a welcome from the principal.",
                    "contextForm": "commence with something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "She commenced her medical career in 1996.",
                    "contextForm": "commence something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "The company **commenced operations** in April."
                },
                {
                    "text": "to commence bankruptcy proceedings against somebody"
                },
                {
                    "text": "We commence building next week.",
                    "contextForm": "commence doing something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Operators commenced to build pipelines in 1862.",
                    "contextForm": "commence to do something"
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Working life"]
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/kəˈmens/",
                "audio": "co/commence/commence__gb_2.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/kəˈmensɪz/",
                "audio": "co/commence/commences__gb_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/kəˈmenst/",
                "audio": "co/commence/commenced__gb_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/kəˈmensɪŋ/",
                "audio": "co/commence/commencing__gb_1.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/kəˈmens/",
                "audio": "co/commence/commence__us_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/kəˈmensɪz/",
                "audio": "co/commence/commences__us_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/kəˈmenst/",
                "audio": "co/commence/commenced__us_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/kəˈmensɪŋ/",
                "audio": "co/commence/commencing__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "Middle English: from Old French commencier, comencier, based on Latin com- (expressing intensive force) + initiare ‘begin’."
}