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commencement

beginning

noun ko-mahn-SMAHN Rare

Also means

start

Usage Note

commencement is a slightly more formal synonym of début; in everyday French début is more frequent. In formal contexts such as official speeches, au commencement (at the beginning) echoes literary registers. The related verb commencer (to begin) is very high-frequency.

Examples

"Au commencement tout semblait simple."

Natural Translation

At the beginning everything seemed simple.

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