Meaning of start in English

He started as an actor, making his debut as a director in 1990.
As soon as the war started, any broadcasts with a military theme were taken off the air.
People have started to gossip about us.
The party had hardly started when she left.
Halfway through the meeting my mind started to wander.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Starting and beginning

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Success & failure in business

Causing things to happen

Complaining

Parenting & caring for children

Starting again

Fighting

Arguing & disagreeing

Applying for a job

First and firstly

start verb (FIRST POINT)

[ I usually + adv/prep ]

to begin at one point and then move to another, in distance or range:

The run starts at/from the entrance to the park.

We'll need to start (off/out) early because the journey takes six hours.

Tell me what happened - start at the beginning.

Ticket prices start at/from €80 and go up to €500.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Departing

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start verb (MOVE SUDDENLY)

[ I ]

to move your body suddenly because something has surprised or frightened you:

He started at the sound of the phone.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Making short, sudden movements

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Surprised

start verb (WORK)

B2 [ I or T ]

(also start up)

to (cause to) begin to work or operate:

I'm having trouble starting the car.

The engine won't start.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Machines - Functioning

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Grammar

Begin or start?

We can use the verbs begin and start to mean the same thing but begin is more formal than start. Begin is an irregular verb. Its past simple form is began and its -ed form is begun: …

Phrasal verbs

start (something) off
start someone off
start on something
start on at someone
start out
start over
start (something) up

start

noun

/stɑːt/ us

/stɑːrt/

start noun (BEGINNING)

B1 [ S ]

the beginning of something:

We were doubtful about the product's usefulness from the start.

They announced the start of a new commercial venture.

The weather was good at the start (= in the first part) of the week.

The event got off to a shaky/poor start with the stage lights failing in the first few minutes.

C2 [ C ]

the act of beginning to do something:

We need to make a start on (preparing) the brochure next week.

from start to finish

including all of something, from the beginning to the end:

The whole party was a disaster from start to finish.

The exercises take about 50 minutes from start to finish.

The performance kept up the same high energy levels from start to finish.

Johnson was in charge of the project from start to finish.

From start to finish, the investigation into his death was beset by errors and deliberate attempts at sabotage.

for a start C1 UK

first, or as the first in a set of things:

We'll take names and phone numbers for a start, then later on we can get more details.

For a start, let's see if we can persuade her to go to school every day.

Today we're cooking chilli. Let's all wash our hands for a start.

For a start, we can contact all the residents in the street and find out what they think about the closure.

I'm thinking of training as a youth worker, but I'm just volunteering at a youth club for a start.

used when giving a first example of something:

This book is better than her last one. For a start, it's shorter.

Things have certainly changed. For a start, there are more women involved.

Lots of people are against the project. John Edwards, for a start.

There are ways to make washing clothes more environmentally-friendly. For a start, you can lower the temperature you wash at.

We are concerned for several reasons. For a start, nobody has ever tried anything like this before.

[ C ]

an occasion when you are a competitor in a race or a member of a starting team in a game:

It was her seventh goal of the season in 13 starts.

The three-year-old horse is unbeaten in six starts.

More examplesFewer examples

I was standing near her at the start of the race.
I was so optimistic at the start of the year.
At the start of the film I was a bit sceptical.
We've made a good start on decorating the living room.
I'm going to make a start on sorting out these boxes.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Beginnings and starts

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Complete and whole

First and firstly

Competing in sport

start noun (ADVANTAGE)

C2 [ S ]

an advantage that you have over someone else when you begin something:

We gave the youngest children a five-second start (= in a race).

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Advantage and disadvantage

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start noun (SUDDEN MOVEMENT)

[ S ]

a sudden movement of the body that you make when something has surprised or frightened you:

He woke with a start.

She gave a start as I entered.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Making short, sudden movements

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

start | American Dictionary

start

verb

/stɑrt/

start verb (BEGIN)

Add to word list Add to word list

[ I/T ]

to begin to do something or go somewhere, or to begin or happen:

[ T ] When do you start your new job?

[ I ] We started with nothing when we got married.

[ I ] Classes start next month.

[ I ] Work starts at 9:00 a.m.

[ I ] Ticket prices start at $20 (= these are the cheapest prices).

[ T ] I just started this book (= began to read it).

[ I ] We’ll start out with Lucy (= She will be the first).

[ I/T ]

infml If you tell someone not to start, you are warning that person not to begin complaining or annoying you:

[ I ] Don’t start – I said no!

start verb (CAUSE)

[ T ]

to cause something to be or happen:

His mother started the craft market at the community center.

You’ve been starting trouble all morning.

start verb (MOVE SUDDENLY)

[ I ]

to move your body suddenly because something has surprised you:

He started when the car backfired.

start verb (OPERATE)

[ I/T ]

to cause something to operate, or to begin to work or operate:

[ T ] Annie went outside to start the car.

[ I ] I heard a lawnmower start.

Idioms

start something

to start with

Phrasal verbs

start (something) off
start (something) over
start up (something)
start up something

start

noun

/stɑrt/

start noun (BEGINNING)

[ C/U ]

the time where something begins, or the act of beginning:

[ U ] We were worried from the start.

[ U ] They announced the start of the race.

[ C ] The play got off to a bad start.

start noun (SUDDEN MOVEMENT)

[ U ]

a sudden movement of your body because something has surprised you:

He woke with a start when the alarm sounded.

(Definition of start from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

start | Business English

start

verb

/stɑːt/ us

Add to word list Add to word list

[ I or T ] HR, WORKPLACE

to begin to work in a job:

Can you start on Monday?

I recently started a new job and I'm enjoying it very much so far.

Entry-level employees start at low salaries.

start work

WORKPLACE

to begin to be employed for the first time:

He started work at 16 in a local baker's.

to begin your day at work:

I start work at 8.30 in the morning.

[ I or T ]

to begin an activity or a set of activities:

He started the talk with a review of the past year's achievements.

start by doing sth She started by thanking us all for attending.

[ 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:

start a business/company She started her own software company last year.

The economic model of small, farmer-owned ethanol plants got the industry started.

See also

start-up

[ I ]

to begin at one level and then move to another:

prices start at/from sth Ticket prices start at €20 and go up to €100.

[ I or T ]

(also start off); (also start out)

to begin in a particular way and then change later:

He started his working life as an engineer, but later became a teacher.

start as sth The company started as a snow removal business with one truck, and grew from there.

start with sth He started with nothing and was a millionaire by the time he was 35.

[ I or T ]

if a machine or vehicle starts, or you start it, it begins to work or operate:

I started the computer and checked my mail.

Phrasal verbs

start (sth) off
start sb off
start out
start over
start (sth) up

start

noun

/stɑːt/ us

[ C, usually singular ]

the beginning of something:

get off to a bad/good/slow start The FTSE 100 got off to another good start and climbed steadily through the morning

The shares have fallen from 418p at the start of the year to 121p today.

Accessibility is something you must think about right from the start when you're choosing your venue.

Johnson led the project from start to finish.

[ S ]

the act of beginning to do something:

make a start on sth/doing sth European funding has been obtained to enable us to make a start on the project.

[ C, usually plural ]

a business or job that has just begun, or a person who has just started a new job:

Construction spending, driven by starts of new factories and highways, rose a larger-than-expected 0.9%.

They have been providing reliable data on small business starts and closures since 2003.

All new starts are expected to sign the workplace agreement.

[ C, usually singular ]

an opportunity to begin something and start to be successful at it:

She got her start with the company as an accountant, auditing their books.

[ S ]

→ head start

a fresh start

a situation in which you start something again in a completely new and different way after you have been unsuccessful:

The program will allow economically strapped taxpayers to make a fresh start.

Examples of start

start

The model suggests that rebels start off as ordinary robbers.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

When the server starts up, it parses the configuration file, and if there are no errors found, immediately starts serving requests.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Participants took a break between the two conditions and then completed the other modality, starting again with six new training items.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The reversal is supposed to start instantaneously and to run at exactly the same speed as the forward simulation.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

We used principal-factor analysis (starting with squared multiple correlations as the prior communality estimates) to extract the principal factors from the 17 premenstrual symptoms.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The dashed line is the theoretical total nuclei assuming all neurons survive and astroglia start at zero.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Only then need the lawyer start to think about the nature of any kind of defence strategy.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The themes are: first, critical assessment must start from subjects' understanding; second, a modal fallacy; and third, fallacies of distribution.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

At this point, things started to fall into place.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

I intend my remarks as suggestions for expanding the argument - and perhaps the research - beyond the promising start made here.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

We also assume without loss of generality that the path describing the boundary starts and ends at the same vertical height.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Four children under 5 years have started visiting the dentist, but the remaining ten in this age group are still too young.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Designing typically starts with these requirements, and additional external requirements are often given later in the process of design.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

We start by collecting a number of useful results.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Admittedly, they represent useful starting points because they simplify the analysis.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all examples of start

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