Start Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
start
begin, commence, start, initiate, inaugurate, usher in mean to take the first step in a course, process, or operation.
begin, start, and commence are often interchangeable.
begin, opposed to end, is the most general.
begin a trip began dancingstart, opposed to stop, applies especially to first actions, steps, or stages.
the work started slowlycommence can be more formal or bookish than begin or start.
commence firing commenced a conversationinitiate implies taking a first step in a process or series that is to continue.
initiated diplomatic contactsinaugurate suggests a beginning of some formality or notion of significance.
the discovery of penicillin inaugurated a new era in medicineusher in is somewhat less weighty than inaugurate.
ushered in a period of economic declineExamples of start in a Sentence
Verb Quotes--> Extra Examples--> They started clearing land for the new housing development. He started studying music at the age of five. As soon as you're ready to play, we'll start. Let's start with some warm-up exercises. He deleted what he wrote and started fresh. Olympic athletes start young and train hard. I started the quilt last month. Have you started your book report? We started the meeting at 6:30. She started the meeting with a brief review of the previous meeting. Noun Quotes--> Extra Examples--> knew from the start of the game that he would win easily See More
Recent Examples on the WebEverything starts with staff and the tools they are provided with. — Sergey Kozhevnikov, Forbes, 28 Nov. 2023 Fanned by a steady stream of content, the song started climbing the charts. — Mike Wass, Variety, 28 Nov. 2023 Owen was arrested on a murder charge and has a trial starting this week. — CBS News, 28 Nov. 2023 Ramaswamy has held the most events of any candidate in the GOP presidential primary since NBC News started tracking events in May. — Mark Murray, NBC News, 28 Nov. 2023 Work from the Front to the Back For a simple cutting technique, Taylor recommends starting with the front pieces of your hair, going curl by curl and only cutting off the dead ends. — Akili King, Vogue, 28 Nov. 2023 But, when a few people started leaving comments, Ventura invited some to speak live. — Jacob Sweet, The New Yorker, 28 Nov. 2023 The track, released Nov. 17 on Truth or Dare Records, starts at No. 1 on Country Digital Song Sales and No. 9 on the all-genre Digital Song Sales chart with 4,000 sold. — Xander Zellner, Billboard, 28 Nov. 2023 Then Siskel started delivering brief movie reviews on a local station. — Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 17 Nov. 2023
Despite what seemed like a promising professional start, Mr. Munger’s personal life was traumatic. — Paul Glader, Washington Post, 28 Nov. 2023 So far, the holiday shopping season is off to a positive start. — Demetrius Simms, Robb Report, 28 Nov. 2023 From back of the pack to fourth place this year Brown credited his entire management team for quickly responding to their poor start at the beginning of the year when their cars were anything but competitive. — Christiaan Hetzner, Fortune, 27 Nov. 2023 Beyoncé handled the production with precision and care, spending a painstaking four years putting together the aural spectacular and battling a knee injury that required surgery in the run-up to the tour’s start. — Steven J. Horowitz, Variety, 27 Nov. 2023 Showing few weaknesses and lots of strengths, 3 4. MATER DEI (2-0), Blake Davidson is off to good start, 5 5. CORONA CENTENNIAL (2-2), Close loss to De La Salle, 4 6. — Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 26 Nov. 2023 Black Friday beauty deals 2023, which offer a dizzying start to the holiday shopping season. — Jenny Berg, Vogue, 24 Nov. 2023 In his first career start last season, Brock Purdy led San Francisco to a 35-7 thumping of Tampa Bay. — Sam Farmer, Los Angeles Times, 16 Nov. 2023 After refusing to allow fuel into Gaza since the war's start, saying it would be diverted to Hamas, Israeli defense officials early Wednesday let in some 6,340 gallons. — Najib Jobain, arkansasonline.com, 16 Nov. 2023 See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'start.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
