start

verb (BEGIN)

/stɑːt/

/stɑːrt/

Definition

A1 [I or T] to begin doing something: When do you start your course/your new job? We'll be starting (the session) at six o'clock. Can you start (= begin a new job) on Monday? [+ -ing verb] They started building the house in January. [+ to infinitive] I'd just started to write a letter when the phone rang.Starting and beginningStarting again B2 [I or T] (also start up) If a business or other organization starts, or if someone starts one, it is created and starts to operate: She started her own software company. A lot of new restaurants have started up in the region.Starting, succeeding and failing in business B1 [I or T] to begin to happen or to make something begin to happen: A new series of wildlife programmes has started on Monday evenings. Police believe the fire was started by arsonists.Causing things to happenStarting and beginningStarting again A1 [I or T] to begin a set of activities with the thing or person mentioned: The speaker started with a description of her journey to China. Give me your answers one by one, starting with Lucy. You could start by weeding the flowerbeds. He started his working life as an engineer but later became a teacher.Starting and beginningStarting again › [I] informal to begin to complain or be annoying in some way: Don't start - we're not going and that's that!informal "It would help if Richard did some work." "Oh, don't get me started on Richard!"Complaining get started › to begin: When can we get started?Starting and beginningStarting again start a family › to have your first childParenting and caring for children start work › to begin being employed: He started work at 16 in a local bakers.Recruiting staff, applying for and accepting jobs to start with B2 at the beginning, or as the first of several things: We only knew two people in London to start with, but we soon made friends. To start with, we need better computers - then we need more training.First and firstly

(Definition of start verb (BEGIN) from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)