starter
noun
Simple meaning
A small dish eaten before the main meal; also, the part that starts an engine.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
stahrterSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈstɑɹtɚ
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The person who starts a race by firing a gun or waving a flag.
A culture containing yeast or bacteria that is used to start the process of fermentation or souring in making butter or cheese or dough
“To make sourdough you need a starter.”
A yeast culture, or a medium containing one, used to start a fermentation process.
A device that initiates the flow of high voltage electricity in a fluorescent lamp.
Something with which to begin; a first property, etc.
The first course of a meal, consisting of a small, usually savoury, dish.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The person who starts a race by firing a gun or waving a flag.
Used this way, starter 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.
More ways to use starter
- “To make sourdough you need a starter.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Take the first step or steps in carrying out an action.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
An electric motor for starting an engine.
A starter (as on a motorcycle) that is activated with the foot and the weight of the body.
An energetic person with unusual initiative.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A turn to be a starter (in a game at the beginning).
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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.