Word.ws English Dictionary

headstart

headstart is the alternative spelling of head start.

Meaning of head start

Noun

head start (plural head starts)

  1. (idiomatic) An advantage consisting in starting a competition or task earlier than might be expected; given (or taken), for example, prior to the beginning of a race.
    • Fred gave his younger brother a five-minute head start in the Easter egg hunt.
    Synonyms:
    forestart
  2. (idiomatic) A factor conducive to superiority and success.
    • His father's money gave him a head start in life.

See all 3 meanings of head start

Forms of headstart

pluralheadstarts

Origin of headstart

From head + start.

Questions about headstart

What is headstart the alternative spelling of?
Headstart is the alternative spelling of head start.

Words near headstart in the dictionary

  1. headstanded
  2. headstander
  3. headstanders
  4. headstanding
  5. headstands
  6. headstart
  7. headstarting
  8. headstarts
  9. headstay
  10. headstays
  11. headstead

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: headstart (page history and authors); head start (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.

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