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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
commencement
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
date
▪ Some courses have an early commencement date.
▪ It follows that one always knows the commencement date of a Community regulation without going outside the text of the regulation itself.
▪ The estimated commencement date is 1983, with an anticipated construction period of approximately 2 years.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Colin Powell was asked to give the commencement address.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ An allocation plan should be given to each student at the commencement of training, setting out the holiday periods.
▪ At the commencement of the tournament it was made clear that referees had been instructed to apply Laws 18 and 19.
▪ Contrary to many press reports, however, there was only one, unified, commencement.
▪ Efforts will therefore continue to find a suitable person before the commencement of next term.
▪ Except in divorce proceedings, commencement by petition is now very rare.
▪ It follows that one always knows the commencement date of a Community regulation without going outside the text of the regulation itself.
▪ This then was the works at the commencement of the 1914-18 war.
▪ Traditionally, societies have specified an age as being appropriate for marriage or union formation and the commencement of family building.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Commencement

Commencement \Com*mence"ment\, n. [F. commencement.]

  1. The first existence of anything; act or fact of commencing; rise; origin; beginning; start.

    The time of Henry VII. . . . nearly coincides with the commencement of what is termed ``modern history.''
    --Hallam.

  2. The day when degrees are conferred by colleges and universities upon students and others.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
commencement

late 13c., "beginning," from Old French comencement "beginning, start" (Modern French commencement), from comencier (see commence). Meaning "school graduation ceremony" attested by 1850, American English. (Sense "entrance upon the privileges of a master or doctor in a university" is from late 14c.)\n\nI know what you are thinking of -- the class members grouped in a semicircle on the stage, the three scared boys in new ready-made black suits, the seventeen pretty girls in fluffy white dresses (the gowns of the year), each senior holding a ribbon-tied manuscript bulging with thoughts on "Beyond the Alps Lies Italy," "Our Ship is Launched -- Whither Shall it Sail?" and similar topics.

[Charles Moreau Harger, "The Real Commencement," "New Outlook," May 8, 1909]

Wiktionary
commencement

n. 1 The first existence of anything; act or fact of commencing; rise; origin; beginning; start. 2 The day when degrees are conferred by colleges and universities upon students and others. 3 A graduation ceremony, from a school, college or university.

WordNet
commencement
  1. n. 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" [syn: beginning, first, outset, get-go, start, kickoff, starting time, showtime, offset] [ant: middle, end]

  2. an academic exercise in which diplomas are conferred [syn: commencement exercise, commencement ceremony, graduation, graduation exercise]

  3. the act of starting something; "he was responsible for the beginning of negotiations" [syn: beginning, start] [ant: finish]

Wikipedia
Commencement

Commencement may refer to:

  • Graduation, the ceremony at which students receive academic degrees
  • "Commencement" (The West Wing)
  • Commencement (album), by Deadsy
  • Commencement, a novel by J. Courtney Sullivan about Smith College
  • "Commencement", a season 4 episode of Smallville
  • The process by which a United Kingdom Act of Parliament takes effect
Commencement (fireboat)

M/V Commencement is a fireboat operated by the Tacoma Fire Department (TFD) in Tacoma, Washington.

Commencement is powered by two 535-horsepower engines and a 300-horsepower marine diesel engine that provides power to six 24-inch aluminum alloy fans which can be used to create an air cushion under the vessel, similar to a hovercraft. The ship has a maximum speed of 30 knots.

In 2005 Commencement was renovated and refitted with a Port security grant provided by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Commencement (album)

Commencement is the second studio album and major label debut by American rock band Deadsy, released on May 14, 2002. After initially being suspended upon distribution changes at Sire, the album was officially released through DreamWorks under the Elementree sub-label. It includes the single "The Key to Gramercy Park" which gained minor attention for its music video. Despite featuring various guest musicians and the support of popular industry figures such as Jonathan Davis and Fred Durst, Commencement was a commercial disappointment, and Elementree folded shortly after.

Usage examples of "commencement".

They relate the history of the first seven years of the Gallic War in seven books, and the history of the Civil War down to the commencement of the Alexandrine in three books.

If, on the contrary, we study the growth of the Roman republic, we may discover that, notwithstanding the incessant demands of wars and colonies, the citizens, who, in the first census of Servius Tullius, amounted to no more than eighty-three thousand, were multiplied, before the commencement of the social war, to the number of four hundred and sixty-three thousand men, able to bear arms in the service of their country.

The most popular forms or manifestations of Vishnu the Preserver, were his successive avataras or historic impersonations, which represented the Deity coming forth out of the incomprehensible mystery of His nature, and revealing Himself at those critical epochs which either in the physical or moral world seemed to mark a new commencement of prosperity and order.

With the commencement of the eighteenth century we find the industry settling in Dresden, Chemnitz, Amsterdam, Berlin, Elberfield and Cologne.

Though the episode I am about to describe took place some six years after the commencement of the constitutional Home Rule agitation, I think it well, as it was connected with Fenianism, for the sake of compactness, to introduce it here.

Just that one bleared glance from the Holiest was the commencement of my wisdom.

At the commencement of the nineteenth century we find them making tanno-gallate of iron inks to which were added extractive matter from logwood and other materials to form thick fluids for shipment to Brazil, India and the countries where brushes or reeds were used as writing instruments.

Commencement custom, in which numerous graduates in billowing black gowns and mortarboards, smiling shyly, stiffly, at times radiantly as they shake hands with their respective deans, the Provost, and the Chancellor, proceed across the platform from left to right.

There are steady pains at the commencement of the menstrual flow, and they increase in violence and become decidedly expulsive.

I had hoped to be able, after the conclusion of the commencement exercises of Washington College, to visit the Pamunkey, and to return by the 15th inst.

Having thus particularized the operations of the allied army since the commencement of the campaign, we shall now endeavour to trace the steps of the king of Prussia, from the period to which his army was assembled for action.

The movements of the Seven Stars that revolve around the pole were also represented, as were those of Capella, which by its heliacal rising at the moment when the Sun reached the Pleiades, in Taurus, announced the commencement of the annual revolution of the Sun.

The filaments of the auditory nerve penetrate the membranous tissues of these sacs, and also of those suspended at the commencement of the semi-circular canals.

When the task was done, over two years after its commencement, I viewed the great rooms, wainscoted walls, vaulted ceilings, mullioned windows, and broad staircases with a pride which fully compensated for the prodigious expense of the restoration.

One scholar, for example, estimates that several million people entered Japan during the thousand years following commencement of the Yayoi period.