in the beginning
When things started
In the beginning marks the opening of a narrative or the earliest stage of something: In the beginning, there was nothing but darkness.
The phrase carries a formal, often biblical tone from its use in Genesis.
It differs from "at the beginning," which refers to a specific point rather than an primordial era: At the beginning of the movie versus In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
- dawnDay's first glow
- first lightEarliest morning brightness
- birthComing into the world
- outsetInitial point of something
- startTo set going
square one · blank slate · opening · Big Bang · origin · genesis · initially · commencement · creation myth · primordial · first cause · at first · new · inception · cosmology · prologue · breath · archetype
- beginning phrasesonce upon a time, first of all, to start with, first off, for starters
- story phrasesonce upon a time, happily ever after, the end, long ago, a long time ago
- Scripture PhrasesJohn 3:16, Lord's Prayer, Our Father, Ten Commandments, Beatitudes
- beginningsstart, first, opening, origin, introduction
- classic excerptsto be or not to be, call me Ishmael, once upon a time, nevermore, et tu Brute
in the beginningin the end
After all is considered
at the end · ultimately · finally · in conclusion · at last
in the beginningin the end
After all is considered
when all is said and done · apocalypse · amen · the end · finis