Definitions of commencement

1. the time at which something begins; " They got an early start"

2. an academic exercise in which diplomas are conferred

3. The first existence of anything; act or fact of commencing; rise; origin; beginning; start.

4. The beginning: the thing begun.

5. Beginning; time when students receive degrees.

6. A beginning; origin.

7. A celebration at the close of a college course, when degrees are conferred; also, the day so observed.

8. Beginning; rise; origin; first existence; a day on which academic degrees are publicly conferred; also the day when a student is made a bachelor at Cambridge.