Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use start in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb, adverb

Start means the beginning of an activity. Example: “The movie was entertaining from start to finish.”

Examples of start by meaning

nounThe beginning of an activity.

  • The movie was entertaining from start to finish.

nounA sudden involuntary movement.

  • He woke with a start.

nounThe beginning point of a race, a board game, etc.

  • Captured pieces are returned to the start of the board.

nounAn appearance in a sports game, horserace, etc., from the beginning of the event.

  • Jones has been a substitute before, but made his first start for the team last Sunday.
  • Wilshere, who made his first start for England in the midweek friendly win over Denmark, raced into the penalty area and chose to cross rather than shoot - one of the very few poor selections he made in the match.2011 February 12, Ian Hughes, “Arsenal 2 - 0 Wolverhampton”, in BBC

nounA young plant germinated in a pot to be transplanted later.

  • You generally see nursery starts at garden centres in mid to late spring.2009, Liz Primeau, Steven A. Frowine, Gardening Basics For Canadians For Dummies

nounAn initial advantage over somebody else; a head start.

  • to get, or have, the start
  • The man has got two clear days' start and the chances are nine to one against catching him.1914, Ernest Bramah, Max Carrados

verbTo set in motion.

  • to start a stream of water; to start a rumour; to start a business
  • A union had just been started for them and all but a few joined.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

verbTo begin.

  • The President fired the gun to start the footrace.
  • The rain started at 9:00.
  • Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven.2013 July 19, Peter Wilby, “Finland spreads word on schools”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 30

More sentences with start

  • The shop wasn't giving me enough hours so I started searching for a second job.From the entry hour
  • He started his career merchandising in a small clothing store chain.From the entry merchandise
  • You should start dating so you can find a suitable husband.From the entry husband
  • I started some tomato seeds last spring, but they didn't take.From the entry take
  • I started to watch the video yesterday, but could only finish it this evening.From the entry yesterday
  • Clean the sink first, before you even think of starting to cook.From the entry first
  • Blood started to spurt out of his hand due to the wound.From the entry blood
  • Each player starts the game with four counters on the board.From the entry board
  • The soldiers had to acclimatize before starting operations in the desert.From the entry acclimatize
  • They used twigs and leaves as a base to start the fire.From the entry twig
  • If you get any taller, you'll start having to duck through doorways!From the entry any
  • Smith started the game in the centre of midfield, but moved to the wing after 30 minutes.From the entry wing
  • I seem to make fresh mistakes every time I start writing.From the entry fresh
  • You just tried to start your car with your cell phone. Hello?From the entry hello
  • You can start the vegetables cooking while you are lemoning the fish.From the entry lemon
  • At the start of their turn, each player must draw a card.From the entry draw
  • I had to stop running when I started getting pains in my feet.From the entry pain
  • Since she started working with her advocate, she has become much more confident.From the entry advocate
  • You want to bring the rook and then start pushing your pawns.From the entry bring
  • I'm going to burn the stove now so the room will start warming up.From the entry burn
  • After the incident at the dinner party, people started to cut him on the street.From the entry cut
  • You've got thirty seconds to solve the anagram, starting now. Go!From the entry go
  • I met with them several times. The government ministers met today to start the negotiations.From the entry meet
  • I breathed in a lungful of smoke by mistake, and started to cough.From the entry cough
  • I need an in to start hanging out with that circle.From the entry circle
  • The man, in a desperate bid for freedom, grabbed his gun and started shooting anyone he could.From the entry shoot
  • The man, in a desperate bid for freedom, grabbed his gun and started shooting.From the entry shoot

Meaning of start

  1. noun The beginning of an activity.
  2. noun A sudden involuntary movement.
  3. noun The beginning point of a race, a board game, etc.

Full definition of start

Questions about start in a sentence

How do you use start in a sentence?
Start is used as a noun, verb and adverb. For example: “The movie was entertaining from start to finish.”
What is a short sentence with start?
“He woke with a start.”
What does start mean?
Start means the beginning of an activity.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: start (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this page: “How to use start in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/start. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.