Skip to definition.
Get the FREE one-click dictionary software for Windows or the iPhone/iPad and Android apps


Verb: start  staa(r)t
  1. Take the first step or steps in carrying out an action
    "Who will start?";
    - get down, begin, get, start out, set about, set out, commence
     
  2. Set in motion, cause to start
    "The U.S. started a war in the Middle East";
    - begin, lead off, commence
     
  3. Head for somewhere else
    "The family started for Florida";
    - depart, part, start out, set forth, set off, set out, take off
     
  4. Have a beginning, in a temporal, spatial, or evaluative sense
    "Prices for these homes start at $250,000";
    - begin
     
  5. Bring into being
    "Start a foundation";
    - originate, initiate, father
     
  6. Get off the ground
    "Who started this company?"; "I start my day with a good breakfast"; "The blood shed started when the partisans launched a surprise attack"; "Who started up this company?";
    - start up, embark on, commence
     
  7. Move suddenly, as if in surprise or alarm
    - startle, jump
     
  8. Get going or set in motion
    "We simply could not start the engine"; "start up the computer";
    - start up
     
  9. Begin or set in motion
    "I start at eight in the morning";
    - go, get going
     
  10. Begin work or acting in a certain capacity, office or job
    "start a new job";
    - take up
     
  11. (sport) play in the starting lineup
     
  12. Have a beginning characterized in some specified way
    "The novel starts with a murder";
    - begin
     
  13. Begin an event that is implied and limited by the nature or inherent function of the direct object
    "She started the soup while it was still hot"; "We started physics in 10th grade";
    - begin
     
  14. Bulge outward
    "His eyes started";
    - protrude, pop, pop out, bulge, bulge out, bug out [US, informal], come out
Noun: start  staa(r)t
  1. The beginning of anything
    "it was off to a good start"
     
  2. The time when something begins
    "they got an early start";
    - beginning, commencement, first, outset, get-go [N. Amer], kickoff, starting time, showtime, offset
     
  3. A turn to be a starter (in a game at the beginning)
    "he got his start because one of the regular pitchers was in the hospital";
    - starting
     
  4. A sudden involuntary movement
    "he awoke with a start";
    - startle, jump
     
  5. The act of starting something
    "he was responsible for the start of negotiations";
    - beginning, commencement
     
  6. A line indicating the location of the start of a race or a game
    - starting line, scratch, scratch line
     
  7. A signal to begin (as in a race)
    "the runners awaited the start";
    - starting signal
     
  8. The advantage gained by beginning early (as in a race)
    "with an hour's start he will be hard to catch";
    - head start

Derived forms: starts, starting, started

See also: dispense with

Type of: act, advantage, be, beginning, change form, change of state, change shape, create, deform, go away, go forth, inborn reflex, innate reflex, instinctive reflex, leave, line, make, move, off [informal], physiological reaction, play, point, point in time, reflex, reflex action, reflex response, sign, signal, signaling [N. Amer], signalling [Brit, Cdn], turn, unconditioned reflex, vantage

Antonym: finish, stop

Encyclopedia: Start, LA