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start

noun · verb

Simple meaning

The beginning of an activity.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

stahrt
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈstɑɹt

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. The beginning of an activity.

  2. The beginning point of a race, a board game, etc.

  3. An appearance in a sports game, horserace, etc., from the beginning of the event.

  4. A sudden involuntary movement.

  5. An initial advantage over somebody else; a head start.

  6. An instance of starting.

verb

  1. Get going or set in motion

    “We simply could not start the engine.”

  2. Begin or set in motion

    “I start at eight in the morning.”

  3. transitive

    To disturb and set in motion; to alarm; to rouse; to cause to flee.

  4. Begin work or acting in a certain capacity, office or job

  5. intransitive

    To have its origin (at), begin.

  6. To put or raise (a question, an objection); to put forward (a subject for discussion).

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner
Frequency
Very Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: The beginning of an activity.

Used this way, start is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

How It’s Used

The word’s distinct uses, one example each.

  • Beginverb

    “I start at eight in the morning.”

  • Getverb

    “We simply could not start the engine.”

More ways to use start

  • “I start at eight in the morning.”verb
  • “We simply could not start the engine.”verb
  • “The U.S. started a war in the Middle East.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

head startfresh startgood start

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • startingnounInflected form

    A turn to be a starter (in a game at the beginning).

  • starternounInflected form

    An electric motor for starting an engine.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • start outverbCompound term

    Take the first step or steps in carrying out an action.

  • starting blocknounCompound term

    Block providing bracing for a runner's feet at start of a race.

  • starting buffernounCompound term

    Buffer solution at the start of a reaction.

  • starting gatenounCompound term

    A movable barrier on the starting line of a race course.

  • starting handlenounCompound term

    Crank used to start an engine.

  • starting linenounCompound term

    A line indicating the location of the start of a race or a game.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

noun

Sense: beginning of an activity

begin

verb

Sense: get going or set in motion

beginset outset forthset offset about

Antonyms

Sense: beginning of an activity

end

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.