1 [C,usually sing.] ~ (of sth) the time when sth starts; the first part of an event, a story, etc:
We're going to Japan at the beginning of July. * She's been working there since the beginning of last summer. * We missed the beginning of the movie. * Let's start again from the beginning. * The birth of their first child marked the beginning of a new era in their married life. * I've read the whole book from beginning to end and still can't understand it.
HELPNOTE At the beginning (of) is used for the time and place when something begins. In the beginning = at first and suggests a contrast with a later situation.
2 (beginnings) [pl.] the first or early ideas, signs or stages of sth:
Did democracy have its beginnings in ancient Greece? * He built up his multimillion pound music business from small beginnings.
IDIOMS
the beginning of the end the first sign of sth ending:
The scandal was the beginning of the end of his career as a politician.
Rate this entry
About this entry
This is a English–English dictionary entry.
Sourced from Main Dictionary in Lughet's collection.
This word also appears under other sources in Lughet's collection — see the list below.
Where does this definition of beginning come from?
This entry for beginning is sourced from Main Dictionary, one of the dictionaries and corpora merged into Lughet.
Is beginning a noun, verb, or something else?
In this entry, beginning is tagged as noun.
Does beginning appear elsewhere on Lughet?
Yes — beginning appears under other sources or language pairs in Lughet's collection. See the list below.
What is Lughet?
Lughet is a free trilingual dictionary covering nearly five million entries across Uyghur, Chinese, and English, drawn from more than ten source dictionaries and corpora.
