How to Use commence in a Sentence

commence

verb
  • The country has commenced preparations for war.
  • The festivities will commence with a parade.
  • The court commenced criminal proceedings.
  • Their contract commences in January.
  • Trade talks will commence, too.
    — Stephen J. Nesbitt, New York Times, 3 Nov. 2025
  • Usyk tried to swarm once the action commenced.
    — Brian Mazique, Forbes.com, 27 May 2026
  • Only then do the two shake hands, and the match may commence.
    — Smithsonian, 21 Sep. 2017
  • This is the phase of the project that’s now commencing.
    — Joseph Howlett, Scientific American, 8 May 2026
  • But when there’s grilling to be done, a battle still commences.
    — J. J. Goode, New York Times, 13 June 2023
  • An avalanche of retweets, reshares, and page views soon commenced.
    — Andy Boyle, Esquire, 10 Mar. 2016
  • And what happened here gives you an idea of what will commence once that gets put in play.
    — WSJ, 21 Feb. 2017
  • It is set to commence this month and will be completed by late fall.
    — Ellise Shafer, Variety, 21 July 2023
  • The voting could have commenced at any moment but of course did not.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 20 Dec. 2019
  • As the speed rounds commenced, Meri first met with a man named Lee.
    — Dory Jackson, PEOPLE, 6 Oct. 2025
  • There is no detail, as yet, on the date from which travel might commence.
    — Alex Ledsom, Forbes, 18 May 2021
  • Filming is set to commence in Spain this June.
    — Brent Lang, Variety, 1 May 2026
  • Opening statements in both cases could commence by the end of this week.
    — Bill Hutchinson, ABC News, 1 Nov. 2021
  • If the case is not dismissed, a trial is set to commence early next year.
    — Kaelan Deese, The Washington Examiner, 29 Oct. 2025
  • The last thirty-some years of his life commenced with Betsy.
    — Joy Williams, Harpers Magazine, 24 Oct. 2025
  • The Texas deep freeze is behind us, and a statewide warming has commenced.
    — Anthony Franze, San Antonio Express-News, 28 Jan. 2026
  • The winning team is content to dribble out the shot or game clock as daps and hugs commence.
    — Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY, 15 May 2018
  • The public sale for all venues will commence on Thursday.
    — Christian Babcock, Mercury News, 24 Jan. 2026
  • The repaving and remake of the street was to commence in 2016.
    — John King, SFChronicle.com, 11 Nov. 2020
  • Now that spring is in full swing, backyard party planning can commence.
    — Emily Weaver, PEOPLE, 9 Apr. 2026
  • That search is over, and now the back-to-back quest can officially commence.
    — Ben Golliver, SI.com, 31 Oct. 2017
  • Planning for the Meadowview site will commence this fall.
    — Daniel Lempres, Sacbee.com, 23 Oct. 2025
  • Cates explained the rules a second time, and after a few false starts, the game commenced.
    — Lizzie Widdicombe, The New Yorker, 2 Apr. 2020
  • Filming was to commence this weekend.
    — Armando Tinoco, Deadline, 10 Jan. 2026
  • Officials then searched the children’s home and commenced an air and ground search.
    — Sam Gillette, PEOPLE, 7 Jan. 2026
  • The dogs, pets of lodge staff and guests, stuck close to their humans until the dancing commenced.
    — Dina Mishev, Dallas News, 8 July 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'commence.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: