From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishldoce_752_zstartstart1 /stɑːt $ stɑːrt/ ●●● S1 W1 verb 1 begin doing something [intransitive, transitive]START DOING something to do something that you were not doing before, and continue doing it SYN begin There’s so much to do I don’t know where to start. Have you started your homework?start doing something Then the baby started crying.start to do something It’s starting to rain. He got up and started running again. I’d better get started (=start doing something) soon.start somebody doing something What Kerry said started me thinking (=made me start thinking).2 begin happening [intransitive, transitive] (also start off)START TO HAPPEN, EXIST ETC to begin happening, or to make something begin happening What time does the film start? Lightning started a fire that burned 500 acres. The party was just getting started when Sara arrived.starting (from) now/tomorrow/next week etc You have two hours to complete the test, starting now.3 begin in a particular way [intransitive always + adverb/preposition, transitive] (also start off)START TO HAPPEN, EXIST ETC to begin something in a particular way, or to begin in a particular way A healthy breakfast is a good way to start the day.start with The festivities started with a huge fireworks display.start as The restaurant started as a small take-out place.start badly/well/slowly etc Any new exercise program should start slowly.start (something) by doing something Chao starts by explaining some basic legal concepts.4 business/organization [transitive] (also start up)START something/MAKE something START to make something begin to existstart a business/company/firm etc She wanted to start her own catering business.5 job/school [intransitive, transitive]START DOING something to begin a new job, or to begin going to school, college etc When can you start?start school/college/work I started college last week. 6 car/engine etc [intransitive, transitive] (also start up)TETTCSWITCH ON OR OFF if you start a car or engine, or if it starts, it begins to work The car wouldn’t start this morning.get the car/engine etc started He couldn’t get his motorbike started.7 begin going somewhere [intransitive] (also start off/out)TTSTART DOING something to begin travelling or moving in a particular direction SYN set out We’ll have to start early to get there by lunchtime.8 life/profession [intransitive always + adverb/preposition, transitive] (also start off/out)START DOING something to begin your life or profession in a particular way or placestart as/in She started as a dancer in the 1950s. It’s difficult for new lawyers to get started in private practice.9 road/river/path etc [intransitive always + adverb/preposition]START TO HAPPEN, EXIST ETC if a river, road, path etc starts somewhere, it begins in that place The trail starts immediately behind the hotel.start in/at The race will start at the town hall.10 prices/amounts [intransitive always + adverb/preposition]START TO HAPPEN, EXIST ETC if prices, amounts, or rates start at or from a particular number, that is the lowest number at which you can get or buy somethingstart at/from Room prices start from £25 a night. 11 → start from scratch/zero12 deliberately begin something [transitive] to deliberately make something start happening, especially something bad I started a fire to warm the place up.start a fight/argument Oh, don’t go trying to start an argument. Other girls were starting rumours about me.13 → to start with14 → be back where you started15 sports [intransitive, transitive] if a player starts in a game, or if someone starts them, they begin playing when the game begins, especially because they are one of the best players on the teamstart for Astacio started for the Dodgers on Tuesday night.16 → start a family17 → start afresh/anew18 → somebody started it!19 → start something/anything20 move suddenly [intransitive]MOVE/CHANGE POSITION to move your body suddenly, especially because you are surprised or afraid SYN jump A loud knock at the door made her start.start from Emma started from her chair and rushed to the window.21 → start young22 → don’t (you) start!GrammarStart belongs to a group of verbs where the same noun can be the subject of the verb or its object. • You can say: We’ll start the show at 7.30. In this sentence, ‘the show’ is the object of start.• You can say: The show will start at 7.30. In this sentence, ‘the show’ is the subject of start.THESAURUSto start doing somethingstart to begin doing somethingI’m starting a new job next week.It’s time we started.begin to start doing something. Begin is more formal than start, and is used especially in written EnglishHe began to speak. The orchestra began playing.Shall we begin?commence formal to start doing somethingThe company will commence drilling next week.Work was commenced on the next power station.get down to something to finally start doing something, especially your workCome on, Sam – it’s time you got down to some homework.We’d better get down to business.set off to start a journeyWhat time do you have to set off in the morning?I usually set off for work at about 8.30.set out to start a long journeyThe ship set out from Portsmouth on July 12th.embark on something especially written to start something, especially something new, difficult, or excitingThe Law Society has embarked on a major programme of reform.Jamaica was embarking on a decade of musical creativity.resume formal to start doing something again after stopping it or being interruptedNormal train services will be resumed on April 5th.Trade was resumed after the end of the war.get cracking informal to start doing something or going somewhereI think we should get cracking straightaway.to start happeningstart/begin to beginWhat time does the film start?begin to start. Begin is more formal than start and is used especially in written EnglishThe trial began in March.Work on the new bridge will begin early next year.open to start being shown to the public – used about a play, show, or exhibitionLloyd Webber’s new musical opened in London last week.A major exhibition of her work will open in New York in November.commence formal to start happeningThe voting has already commenced.The work is scheduled to commence in April.get under way to start happening or being done – used especially about something that is likely to last a long timeConstruction work is getting under way on a new train network.Discussions concerning the plan got under way on April 2.break out to start happening – used especially about a fire, a fight, war, or a diseasePolice were called in when fighting broke out in the crowd.The blaze broke out on the third floor of the hotel.kick off informal to start – used especially about a football game or a meetingThe match is due to kick off this afternoon at Wembley Stadium.What time will the celebrations kick off? → start back → start in → start off → start on somebody/something → start out → start over → start up→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
start• It sounds like an exciting job. When do you start?• Adding acid to the test tube starts a chemical process which leads to the formation of crystals.• I'm starting a new job next week.• A.. We are going to start a trade paperback line in the spring of 1997.• The police have already started an investigation.• A group of women in the neighborhood have started an investment club.• It is thought that the avalanche was started by a small rock-fall on the higher slopes.• A 'safe neighbourhood' campaign has been started by local residents.• We'll have to start early if we want to get to Grandma's by lunchtime.• He could not argue that, if he was not allowed to start his new job, he would starve.• The 1.85-mile track would be lined by five grandstands with a capacity for 150,000, and racing would start in 1995.• I've just started learning German.• It was getting dark so we started looking for a place to stay the night.• I started my descent about a mile away and a thousand feet high.• I think I was about nineteen when I started taking drugs.• Have you started that book yet?• Investigators still aren't sure what started the fire.• The referee couldn't start the game because there were fans on the field.• Halfway through the performance, she started to feel a little faint.• Outside, it was starting to rain.• It was starting to sound very familiar.• We can't start until Carol gets here.• We have decided to start with the basics.start doing something• I'm going to start washing the dishes.getting started• E-mail applications are abundant on Linux and choosing one can be the most difficult part in getting started!• I did with-out you all that time when you were getting started.• In Los Angeles our supporters outnumbered Operation Rescue demonstrators three to one and kept a planned clinic blockade from even getting started.• Therefore, the designers explored alternative means of getting started.• You know that period between all the workers getting started and the women coming out to do their marketing.• Advisers will help you explore how realistic your idea is and guide you through the steps to getting started successfully.• The problem seems to be in getting started with movements, including those of speech. start as• At age 13 she started as a cook in a Chinese restaurant.• The whole thing started as a joke, but soon everyone believed it.• What starts as a mild downturn becomes a severe recession through the reaction of risk-averse, highly leveraged businesses.• If federal approval is gained soon, the trial could start as early as January.• That trend had started as far back as the end of the nineteenth century.• There's a big difference between those two matches, where he started as favourite, and our present contest.• They start as low as $ 200.• Bidding for the second license is to start as soon as the first license is awarded.• The problems start as the years go by.• It is important that you start as you mean to go on and the horse must understand what is expected of him.start a business/company/firm etc• He started a business as a corn merchant in Fimber, and moved to Driffield in 1869.• Should I go out on my own and start a business, or would the insecurity be unbearable?• He looked very well and was full of talk of making his way in the world and starting a business some day.• They reached their goal by starting a business that had no income ceiling, no alleys or dead ends.• Arron knows two former lawyers who started a company that organizes hiking trips on llamas.• They don't start businesses; they improve them.• The new unit will start business today with the lofty goal of $ 100 million in sales within five years.• Like many entrepreneurs on a shoestring, they are attempting to start a business while they continue to work full-time jobs.start school/college/work• Black workers often report encountering overt hostility when they start work.• Incidentally, we would be grateful if you would do your best to be ready to start work at 11.00 a.m.• None of them started college expecting or planning to take a leadership role.• I started working for the guy who managed our building and a number of the other buildings around us.• Lisa describes herself when she started college: I came to Tufts very white-identified.• When I started work I regretted not going for a degree, but promised myself not to miss out.• Although her father gave her an allowance, within six months of starting work Kate could have managed without it.• When she started school, Mari couldn't speak English at all.• Having been rushed to his desk, he listened to the problem and started working on his computer. start as/in• An accident leaflet scheme was started in 1978 in the North West.• Four starts in a row this month, he gave up at least five runs and was gone by the sixth inning.• The government has forecast economic growth of 2. 5 percent for the year starting in April.• Several students who started in January acquired enough skills to land summer jobs, Frezzo said.• Quick. 15.16 Meeting starts in room on fourth floor.• Bidding for the second license is to start as soon as the first license is awarded.• If all goes well, you may be able to go back to school when the new year starts in the autumn.start in/at• Made locally by two craftsmen, they start at £230 for a chair.• Prices start at £240,000 - ships begin from the third quarter.• Threenight packages start at $ 545 for a family of four; five nights start at $ 869.• The government has forecast economic growth of 2. 5 percent for the year starting in April.• The election-year crime wave is starting in Congress.• He'd given me a head start in my inquiries.• The creek starts in the mountains and runs down onto private land.• This is a high amplitude burst of contractions that start in the stomach and are propagated distally into the lower small bowel.• Cars are a lot dirtier now than when I first started in this business 32 years ago.start at/from• The incomparable Main Squeeze finals start at 1: 30 p. m. Sunday.• Rates start at $ 159 and are based on availability.• Summer rates at the hotel start at $199.• The list price starts at £3,945.• It should have started at Brands Hatch, but Jackie crashed it and had to race again in the 003.• It starts from the fact of disunity and asks which existing political mechanism can work best for unity.• Since the column that we moved originally started at the left margin, no tab codes preceded it.• Evaporation through pores starts at the surface with water being continuously drawn out and evaporating as a moisture gradient comes into being. started ... fire• A fortnight ago arsonists got inside the building and started a fire.• A man called John Salvi walked into the clinic and started firing.• The lead ships got closer, and their door gunners started firing.• We were about a minute away from touchdown when the gunships started firing.• Mill blaze: A welding torch yesterday started a fire at a North Yorkshire corn mill.• One trooper told the inquest his machine-gun jammed twice - then started firing by itself.• Then Charlie started firing mortar rounds.• It started a fire which spread to the river bank.start for• It was already dark by the time we started for home.• When are you starting for Seattle?• Astacio started for the Dodgers on Tuesday night.start from• Emma started from her chair and rushed to the window. startstart2 ●●● S1 W2 noun 1 of an activity/event [countable usually singular]BEGINNING the first part of an activity or event, or the point at which it begins to developstart of We arrived late and missed the start of the film.(right) from the start We’ve had problems with this project right from the start. She read the letter from start to finish without looking up.get off to a good/bad etc start (=begin well or badly) a free bottle of wine to get your holiday off to a great starta rocky/shaky/slow etc start (=a bad beginning) After a rocky start, the show is now very popular. He wanted an early start on his election campaign.► see thesaurus at beginning2 of a period of time [countable usually singular]BEGINNING the first part of a particular period of time SYN beginningstart of Since the start of 1992, the company has doubled in size.the start of the year/day/season the start of an election year3 → make a start (on something)4 sudden movement [singular] a sudden movement of your body, usually caused by fear or surprisewith a start Ted woke up with a start and felt for the light switch. She said his name, and Tom gave a start (=made a sudden movement).5 → good/better/healthy etc start (in life)6 → the start7 being ahead [countable usually singular]DSADVANTAGE the amount of time or distance by which one person is ahead of another, especially in a race or competitionstart on The prisoners had a three-hour start on their pursuers. → head start(2)8 → for a start9 → be a start10 job a) [countable usually singular] the beginning of someone’s job, which they will develop in the future, especially a job that involves acting, writing, painting etc Pacino got his start on the stage, before his success in films. I gave you your start, so remember me when you win the Pulitzer Prize. b) [countable usually plural] a job that has just started, a business that has just been started, or someone who has just started a new job The number of business starts plummeted 10.5% during the second half of the year. a training course for new starts11 → starts12 sport [countable usually plural] a) a race or competition that someone has taken part in The horse Exotic Wood was unbeaten in five starts. b) an occasion when a player plays when a sports match begins Jackson played in 353 games, with 314 starts. → false start, → fresh start at fresh1(4), → in/by fits and starts at fit3(7)COLLOCATIONSadjectivesa good/great startA 3-0 win is a good start for the team.a flying start (=a very good start)The appeal got off to a flying start at the weekend when the group held a raffle.a promising start (=a good start that makes success seem likely)Her teacher says she's made a promising start in learning Spanish.a bad/poor/disastrous startThings got off to a bad start when two people turned up late.a rocky/shaky start (=a rather bad start)After a shaky start, they managed two wins in five matches.a disappointing startHe accepted full responsibility for the club’s disappointing start to the season.a slow startWork got off to a very slow start because of bad weather.an auspicious/inauspicious start (=one that makes it seem likely that something will be good or bad)His second term in office has got off to an extremely inauspicious start.an early/late startIt was long trip so we had planned an early start.verbsget off to a good/bad etc startOn your first day at work, you want to get off to a good start.make a good/bad/early etc startHe made a flying start at college, but then he didn't manage to keep it up.have a good/bad etc startWe’ve had a disappointing start but we are hoping to improve. Examples from the Corpus
start• Only in 1993-94 did San Jose manage to survive a bad start.• From that bad start, many little rotten apples grew.• He's allowed just five goals in his last four starts.• A pint of vodka at eight o'clock in the morning was not a good start to the day.• If we get off to a good start this season, I think the team has a real chance to win the championship.• We want to give our kids the best possible start in life.• They had an exotic meal to celebrate the start of the Chinese New Year.• There are also no ligatures to confuse the start of the letter as there are in other letter positions.• The runners are now lining up for the start of the race.• From the start, the physical setting was an essential part of the Black Mountain experience.• Tomorrow marks the start of the presidential election campaign.• When we reached the start after a nervous descent there were no fewer than seven climbers ahead of us.start of• The sudden roar of planes overhead marked the start of the war.• Since the start of 1992, the company has doubled in size.the start of the year/day/season• United knocked them out of the League Cup at the start of the season over 2 legs.• But Jones missed 11 games at the start of the season with a torn ligament in his left thumb.• Four out of five stocks owned at the start of the year were sold by the end.• Just getting up at the start of the day without complaining, is an achievement.• When he struggled to find winners at the start of the season, the cries of gleeful recrimination reached a crescendo.• But that, of course, does not take into account the loan we made you at the start of the year.• The networks knew by the start of the year that the telecommunications bill was going to be signed into law.• From the start of the day to its finish, the Government have got their priorities wrong. with a start• Beast on the Loose Anabelle awoke with a start.• I awoke with a start and reached for the phone.• His voice was louder than he had intended and even his daughter drew away from him with a start.• She realized with a start that she had been gazing on the vista for almost four hours.• In October the new training scheme with start in which Medau music and movement will be combined with a training in physiotherapy.• Dubois jumped up with a start, and visibly relaxed when he saw who had interrupted him.• Waking with a start, she lay in the grey half-light of dawn, wondering where she was.• He soon fell asleep, but woke with a start when his grandmother plucked out a hair.• Sometime in the middle of the night I woke with a start, as Clarisa climbed on to the cot.start on• The exam was almost over and I hadn't even started on question 3.• Germany's military buildup in the 1930s gave it a huge start on Britain and France.• We can't start on the building work until planning permission comes through.• It was time to start on all those little jobs around the house that he'd been putting off.got ... start• Got to start keeping a cork in the bottle until the performance is over.• As soon as Clarisa got home she started talking about having Janir visit her again in San Francisco.• She still obsesses about June 28, the day her college career came to a sudden stall before it even got started.• However, I had hardly got started before I got the first complaint.• Everyone has got to start somewhere.• After I got started and into the conversation I felt a lot more comfortable.• But the story of how it got started is an odd one.• By noon, we got started. STARTSTART /stɑːt $ stɑːrt/ (Strategic Arms Reduction Talks) talks between the US and the former Soviet Union, which aimed to reach agreement about reducing the number of nuclear weapons that each country kept. Two START Treaties (=official agreements) were signed, START I (1991) and START II (1993), in which each country promised to destroy several types of nuclear weapons → compare SALTFrom Longman Business Dictionarystartstart1 /stɑːtstɑːrt/ verb1[intransitive] if prices start at or from a particular figure, that is the lowest figure at which you can buy something, for example for the most basic product, service etc in a rangestart at/fromDelivery prices start at £10.40.2 (also start up)COMMERCE to create a new business or new business activityMy brother started his own plumbing business when he was only 24.On April 5 the airline started up a Stansted to Waterford daily link.3[intransitive, transitive] to begin a new job, or to begin going to school, college etcHow soon can you start?The sales manager phoned this morning to ask if I could start next week. → start off→ See Verb tablestartstart2 noun1[countable usually singular] the beginning of an activity, event, or situationstart ofThe share price has increased by 22% since the start of the year.They’ve had problemsright from the start.The whole process takes 10 days from start to finish.Shops got off to a bad start in the weeks after currency union.2[countable usually plural] a job that has just started, a business that has just been created, or someone who has just started a new jobThe number of business starts plummeted 10.5% during the second half.a training course for new starts3[singular] British English informal the beginning of a new jobHe went to the building site and asked if there was any chance of a start.4[countable usually singular] a situation in which you have an advantage over other peopleWe’ve got a real head start on the rest of the industry, and very few real competitors.Origin start1 Old English styrtan “to jump” 