start

UK/stɑːt/US/stɑɹt/

verbA17 meanings One of the most common words in English · #135 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: started, starting, starts

To start is to do the first bit of something. Start the engine, start a letter, start running for the bus — the moment before is 'not yet' and the moment after is 'under way'.

It works in both directions: you start the car, and the car starts. Start takes either form after it — 'it started raining' and 'it started to rain' are both correct, which is unusual and worth banking. Start off and start out mean to begin a journey or a career; start over is the American way of saying begin again. As a noun: a false start, a fresh start, an early start, 'from the start'. There is a second and much quieter meaning nobody teaches: to start is to jump in surprise, as in 'she started at the sound of the door', and that is where startled comes from. Begin is the more formal twin — you start a car, but you never begin one.

Definitions of start

1verbstartTo begin doing something.A1~28%
“We started work at seven and finished after dark.”
synonyms: begin, commence
2verbhappenTo begin to happen.A1~14%
“The rain started just as we left the house.”
3verbengineTo make an engine or machine begin working, or for it to begin working.A2~19%
“The car would not start in the cold.”
4verbfoundTo bring something new into existence.A2~2%
“They started the business in a friend's garage.”
synonyms: found, establish
5verbmoveTo move suddenly because of surprise or fear.C1~2%
“He started at the crash of the door behind him.”
6nounbeginningThe beginning of something.A1~33%
“The film was dull from the start.”
7nounmovementA sudden movement caused by surprise.C1~2%
“She woke with a start and reached for the light.”

Shares are an estimate: a language model read 24 sentences found in the wild and placed 20 of them on a sense (4 were unclear) — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.

Also accepted in games: begin

Phrases it lives in

for a start — used to introduce the first of several reasons
a false start — an attempt that fails right at the beginning

Where it comes from

The noun start comes from the verb, which Middle English had as sterten — and sterten meant 'to start, to startle'. The jumping was there from the beginning: a start was a sudden movement before it was ever a beginning. English still keeps both meanings side by side, in 'an early start' and 'she woke with a start'.

Middle English
stert
English, today
start

Built from

sterten · Middle English — to start, startle

From Middle English stert. From Middle English stert, from the verb sterten (“to start, startle”). See below.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Everyday Verbs

Practise this word

start in the wild

The set position differs depending on the start.
Sprint (running)
"It's all pretty much fantasy to start with," Scotese has said.
Pangaea Proxima
Most minor leagues start a few days later, but within the same week; the short season Class A and Rookie leagues are exceptions, as they begin in June.
Opening Day
The starter motor is used for this purpose and it is not required once the engine starts running and its feedback loop becomes self-sustaining.
Starter (engine)
Gas turbine engines and rocket engines normally use an ignition system only during start-up.
Ignition system

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the sterten family

start

start — used about once every 10 pages · #135 · point at the bar for the others

Definitions of start

1verbstartTo begin doing something.A1~28%

“We started work at seven and finished after dark.”

synonyms: begin, commence

2verbhappenTo begin to happen.A1~14%

“The rain started just as we left the house.”

3verbengineTo make an engine or machine begin working, or for it to begin working.A2~19%

“The car would not start in the cold.”

4verbfoundTo bring something new into existence.A2~2%

“They started the business in a friend's garage.”

synonyms: found, establish

5verbmoveTo move suddenly because of surprise or fear.C1~2%

“He started at the crash of the door behind him.”

6nounbeginningThe beginning of something.A1~33%

“The film was dull from the start.”

7nounmovementA sudden movement caused by surprise.C1~2%

“She woke with a start and reached for the light.”

Shares are an estimate: a language model read 24 sentences found in the wild and placed 20 of them on a sense (4 were unclear) — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.

Also accepted in games: begin