different between appear vs commence

English

Etymology

From Middle English apperen, aperen, borrowed from Old French aparoir (French apparoir, apparaître), from Latin app?re? (“I appear”), from ad (“to”) + p?re? (“I come forth, I become visible”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??p??/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /??pi?/, [??p?i?]
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /??pi??/
• Rhymes: -??(?)

Verb

appear (third-person singular simple present appears, present participle appearing, simple past and past participle appeared)

1. (intransitive) To come or be in sight; to be in view; to become visible.

   • And God […] said, Let […] the dry land appear.
2. (intransitive) To come before the public.
3. (intransitive) To stand in presence of some authority, tribunal, or superior person, to answer a charge, plead a cause, etc.; to present oneself as a party or advocate before a court, or as a person to be tried.

   • We must all appear before the judgment seat.
4. (intransitive) To become visible to the apprehension of the mind; to be known as a subject of observation or comprehension, or as a thing proved; to be obvious or manifest.

   • It doth not yet appear what we shall be.
5. (intransitive, copulative) To seem; to have a certain semblance; to look.

   • They disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast.
6. (transitive) To bring into view.

   • [Angelo] is yet a devil / His filth within being cast, he would appear / A pond as deep as hell.

Usage notes

• Senses 4, 5. This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs
• Particularly senses 4,5, and 6, this is a stative verb that rarely takes the continuous inflection. See Category:English stative verbs

Synonyms

• (to become visible): emerge; see also Thesaurus:appear
• (seem): look

Antonyms

• (to become visible): disappear, vanish

Related terms

• appearance
• apparent

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle English commencen, comencen (also as contracted comsen, cumsen), from Anglo-Norman comencer, cumencer, comencier, from Vulgar Latin *cominiti?, *cominiti?re, formed from Latin com- + initi? (see initiate).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??m?ns/
• Rhymes: -?ns

Verb

commence (third-person singular simple present commences, present participle commencing, simple past and past participle commenced)

1. (intransitive) To begin, start.
   • 1601, William Shakespeare, The Phoenix and the Turtle,^[1]

     Here the anthem doth commence:

   • 1770, Oliver Goldsmith, “The Deserted Village” in The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith, London: W. Griffin, 1775, p. 164,^[2]

     His heaven commences ere the world be past!

   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, Chapter 4,^[3]

     He commenced dressing at top by donning his beaver hat, a very tall one, by the by, and then—still minus his trowsers—he hunted up his boots.
2. (transitive) To begin to be, or to act as.
   • 1743, Robert Drury, The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar, London, p. 126,^[4]

     […] he furnish’d me with a Gun, Cartouch-box, and Powder-horn, &c. and thus accouter’d I commenc’d Soldier.

   • 1825, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Aids to Reflection in the Formation of a Manly Character, London: Taylor & Hessey, Prudential Aphorisms, Aphorism 15, p. 48,^[5]

     When we are wearied of the trouble of prosecuting crimes at the bar, we commence judges ourselves […]

3. (Britain, intransitive, dated) To take a degree at a university.
   • 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-History of Britain, London: John Williams, The Seventh Century, p. 75,^[6]

     […] I question whether the Formality of Commencing was used in that Age: inclining rather to the negative, that such Distinction of Graduates was then unknown […]

   • 1861, George John Gray, Athenae Cantabrigienses: 1586-1609 (page 272)

     […] was admitted a minor fellow of his college 4 Oct. 1591, a major fellow 11 March 1591-2, and commenced M.A. in 1592.

Antonyms

• cease
• stop

Related terms

• commencement
• initiate

Translations

French

Pronunciation

Verb

commence

1. first-person singular present indicative of commencer
2. third-person singular present indicative of commencer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of commencer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of commencer
5. second-person singular imperative of commencer

Louisiana Creole French

Etymology

From French commencer (“to commence”), compare Haitian Creole kòmanse.

Verb

commence

1. to begin, commence

References

• Alcée Fortier, Louisiana Folktales