From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbeginningbe‧gin‧ning /bɪˈɡɪnɪŋ/ ●●● S1 W2 noun [countable usually singular] 1 BEGINNINGthe start or first part of an event, story, period of time etcbeginning of She’s been here since the beginning of the year. There’s a short poem at the beginning of every chapter. From the beginning of my career as a journalist, I’ve been writing about gender issues. I thought he loved me; perhaps he did in the beginning. That chance meeting marked the beginning of a long and happy relationship. This is just the beginning of a new and different life for you. I said he would cause trouble, right from the beginning. I opposed it from the very beginning. The whole trip was a disaster from beginning to end. I feel like I’ve been offered a new beginning. Could we start at the beginning? Tell me where you first met him.2 → beginnings3 → the beginning of the endGRAMMAR: Prepositions with beginning• You say in the beginning: In the beginning, she didn’t like him. • You say at the beginning of a period of time: I started my new job at the beginning of the year. ✗Don’t say: in the beginning of the yearCOLLOCATIONSadjectivesa new beginningThe country needed a new government and a new beginning.verbsmark the beginning of something (also signal/herald the beginning of something) (=show that something is starting to happen)This event marked the beginning of a ten-year worldwide depression.see the beginning of something (=be the time when something important starts to happen)The 1970s saw the beginning of a technological revolution.phrasesright at/from the beginning (=used for emphasis)That’s what I suggested right at the beginning.at/from the very beginning (=used for emphasis)He had been lying to me from the very beginning.start at the beginning (=start a story or activity at the first part)Just start at the beginning and tell us exactly what happened.from beginning to endThe whole project was full of problems from beginning to end.something is just/only the beginning (=used to emphasize that many more things will happen)Signing the contract is just the beginning of a long process. THESAURUSbeginning the first part of something such as a story, event, or period of timeThe beginning of the movie is very violent.Let’s go back to the beginning.start the beginning of something, or the way something beginsTomorrow marks the start of the presidential election campaign.It was not a good start to the day.The runners lined up for the start of the race.commencement formal the beginning of something – used especially in official contextsthe commencement of the academic yearthe commencement of the contractorigin the point from which something starts to existHe wrote a book about the origins of the universe.The tradition has its origins in medieval times.the onset of something the time when something bad begins, such as illness, old age, or cold weatherthe onset of winterAn active lifestyle can delay the onset of many diseases common to aging.dawn literary the beginning of an important period of time in historyPeople have worshipped gods since the dawn of civilization.birth the beginning of something important that will change many people’s livesthe birth of democracy in South Africa the birth of the environmental movement
Examples from the Corpus
beginning• School children are taught that stories should have a beginning, a middle and an end.• That was how we'd set it up from the beginning.• From the beginning it was decided that the Group should be entirely independent of Aldus.• It was the beginning of the end.• The beginning of the movie is very violent.• Joan's been involved in disabled sport from its very beginning, at the Paraplegic Games at Stoke Mandeville in 1948.• The author tells us who the killer is at the very beginning of the novel.beginning of• The solstice marks the beginning of winter. 