Word.ws English Dictionary

get a jump on

get a jump on verb: to start early, especially before something begins or before others begin; to get a head start.

Verb

get a jump on (third-person singular simple present gets a jump on, present participle getting a jump on, simple past got a jump on, past participle (UK) got a jump on or (US) gotten a jump on)

  1. (informal) To start early, especially before something begins or before others begin; to get a head start.
    • If you'd like to get a jump on the holiday season, many craft stores already have holiday patterns out.

Forms of get a jump on

third-person singular presentgets a jump on
present participlegetting a jump on
pastgot a jump on
past participle UKgot a jump on
past participle USgotten a jump on
alternative formget the jump on

Questions about get a jump on

What does get a jump on mean?
Get a jump on means to start early, especially before something begins or before others begin; to get a head start.
What part of speech is get a jump on?
Get a jump on is a verb.
What is the past tense of get a jump on?
The past tense of get a jump on is got a jump on.

Words near get a jump on in the dictionary

  1. get a grip
  2. get a handle on
  3. get a hold of
  4. get a horse
  5. get a jag on
  6. get a jump on
  7. get a kick out of
  8. get a leg up
  9. get a life
  10. get a line on
  11. get a load of

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: get a jump on (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “get a jump on.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/get_a_jump_on. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.