beginning

English Online Dictionary. What means beginning‎? What does beginning mean?

English

Alternative forms

• begynnynge (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• enPR: bĭgĭn'ĭng, IPA^(key): /bɪˈɡɪn.ɪŋ/

Etymology 1

From Middle English biginning, beginninge, beginnunge, equivalent to begin +‎ -ing.

Noun

beginning (countable and uncountable, plural beginnings)

1. (uncountable) The act of doing that which begins anything; commencement of an action, state, or space of time; entrance into being or upon a course; the first act, effort, or state of a succession of acts or states.
2. That which is begun; a rudiment or element.
3. That which begins or originates something; the source or first cause.

4. The initial portion of some extended thing.

   The author describes the main character's youth at the beginning of the story.

   That house is at the beginning of the street.

Usage notes

"In the beginning" is an idiomatic expression that means "at first, initially"; it does not mean the same as "at the beginning".

The meaning of "at the beginning" is clear from its parts. This expression is used to refer to the time when or place where something starts; it is used to refer to points in time and space and also to fairly long periods of time and fairly large extents of space. ("At the beginning of the story" can be used to refer to both the first few sentences and to the first chapter or chapters. "At the beginning of the trail" can be used to refer to both the first few meters and the first part of a trail, which can be quite substantial, even a fifth or fourth or more.)

The originally rare and traditionally deprecated usage of "in the beginning of" (instead of "at the beginning of") has become more common but is still ignored by most dictionaries and other authorities or labeled as unidiomatic or incorrect. Interestingly, there is only rarely confusion between the parallel expressions "in the end" and "at the end (of)".

Synonyms

• (act of doing that which begins anything): commencing, start, starting
• (that which is begun; rudiment or element): element, embryo, rudiment
• (that which begins or originates something): origin, source, start, commencement
• (initial portion of some extended thing): head, start

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of "act of doing that which begins anything"): conclusion, end

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• (at or from the very beginning): from the get-go, off the bat, out of the chute, out of the gate

Etymology 2

From Middle English begynnyng, bygynnynge, From Old English *beginnende (attested only as Old English onginnende), from Proto-Germanic *biginnandz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *biginnaną (“to begin”), equivalent to begin +‎ -ing.

Verb

beginning

1. present participle and gerund of begin

Adjective

beginning (not comparable)

1. (informal) Of or relating to the first portion of some extended thing.

   in the beginning paragraph of the chapter

   in the beginning section of the course

Synonyms

• first
• initial

Translations