- beginning
- beginning, genesis, rise, initiation are comparable when they mean the first part or stage of a process or development. Although beginning, often in the plural form beginnings, may mean the point at which a person or thing commences its existence (compare BEGIN) it is more often used as denoting the period when something takes form or shape{
the beginning of justice is the capacity to generalize and make objective one's private sense of wrong, thus turning it to public account— Earl Warren
}Often, especially when applied to something whose entire course can be viewed, beginning or beginnings is contrasted with middle and end or with end alone{a drama, according to Aristotle, is composed of three parts, a beginning, a middle, and an end
}{he eschews speculation on first beginnings and ultimate ends, on the ground that no theory about them will assist him to produce ... an end to suffering— Humphreys
}{Canada has had a dramatic and colorful history, particularly in her beginnings— J. D. Adams
}{in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth— Gen 1:1
}Genesis is usually distinguished from origin (see ORIGIN) in that the latter applies to the point at which or from which a thing started, and the former to the stage in which a thing came into its distinctive form or shape or was brought into being; usually, therefore, genesis suggests the gradual formulation, formation, or unfolding, but not the full development or evolution of the thing in question; thus, one speaking of the origin of the phrase "art for art's sake" gives the first use discoverable of the phrase, whereas one speaking of the genesis of the theory of "art for art's sake" dwells upon what happens between the origin of the phrase and its attachment to definite ideas, or upon the period when the theory is receiving its first formulation{the genesis and growth of his ideas and attitudes— G. L. Kline
}{the genesis of personality is in all probability determined largely by the anatomical and physiological makeup of the individual— Sapir
}{the little theater movement... had its genesis in small groups of idealists eager to experiment with new methods and new media— Amer. Guide Series: Va.
}Rise, although sometimes used in place of genesis, usually denotes the upward course of a new thing as opposed to its downward course or decline. It differs, therefore, from genesis, which represents a period comparable to gestation, in commonly representing a period comparable to that between a man's birth and his full maturity or prime of life{the rise and fall of a great state
}{this use of an old word in a slightly new sense took its rise out of the same milieu that led... to the addition of lynch law—Mathews
}{the rise of large newspapers brought special problems, for their power of inflicting injury was enormous— Plucknett
}Rise, however, is sometimes more limited in its significance, often being referred to that part of a growth or development which precedes its full flowering{the greater French novelists... chronicle the rise, the regime, and the decay of the upper bourgeoisie in France— T. S. Eliot
}Initiation may refer to the period of indoctrination (as in the mysteries, rites, and ordeals of a religion or state of life or in the performance of one's duties or functions); usually this indoctrination is by instructions which follow a system or it may be the unconscious result of many influences, but in any event it is felt as the beginning of a new period or state characterized by maturity fully attained{that universal preoccupation among men everywhere with initiation, that mysterious male rebirth of the youth into full membership in the society of men— La Barre
}{such a love is the initiation into the higher life, the spring at once of virtue, of philosophy, and of religion— Dickinson
}But often initiation loses this clear suggestion of attained maturity and is then essentially interchangeable with beginning{resolutely opposed the initiation and development of the researches that lead to the thermonuclear bomb— Times Lit. Sup.
}{the platform . . . called for civic reform . . . and for the initiation of the city-manager form of government— Current Biog.
}
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
