n. 25B6; verb
we began work : START, commence, set about, go about, embark on, launch into, get down to, take up; initiate, set in motion, institute, inaugurate, get ahead with; informal get cracking on, get going on.
he began by saying hello : OPEN, lead off, get under way, get going, get off the ground, start (off), go ahead, commence; informal start the ball rolling, kick off, get the show on the road, fire away, take the plunge.
when did the illness begin? : APPEAR, arise, become apparent, make an appearance, spring up, crop up, turn up, come into existence, come into being, originate, start, commence, develop; poetic/literary come to pass.
incipient, inceptive, inchoate, embryonic.
finish, end, disappear.