Word.ws English Dictionary

start-up

start-up is the alternative spelling of startup.

Meaning of startup

Noun (1)

startup (countable and uncountable, plural startups)

  1. The act or process of starting a process or machine.
    Antonyms:
    shutdown
  2. A new company or organization or business venture designed for rapid growth.
    • Since the launch early last year of Udacity and Coursera, two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to...2013 July 20, “The attack of the MOOCs”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845
  3. (capitalized, often) A folder (especially in Windows), containing shortcuts of applications or programs that start up automatically after a user signs in.
    • Add an app to run automatically at startup in Windows 10, Microsoft Support
      3. With the file location open, press the Windows logo key + R, type shell:startup, then select OK. This opens the Startup folder. / 4. Copy and paste the shortcut to the app from the file location to the Startup folder.

Noun (2)

startup (plural startups)

  1. (dialectal, in plural, obsolete) A kind of high-low or thigh-high boot worn by rustic people.
    • Galage) a startuppe or clownish shoe.1579, Edmund Spenser, The Shepheardes Calender, London: Hugh Singleton, “Februarie,” Glosse
  2. (dialectal, in plural, obsolete) A kind of gaiter or legging.
  3. (obsolete) One who comes suddenly into notice; an upstart.
    • That young start-up hath all the glory of my overthrow: if I can cross him any way, I bless myself every way.1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...

Forms of start-up

pluralstart-ups

Origin of start-up

Deverbal from start up.

Questions about start-up

What is start-up the alternative spelling of?
Start-up is the alternative spelling of startup.

Words near start-up in the dictionary

  1. start up
  2. start up on
  3. start with a clean sheet
  4. start with a clean sheet of paper
  5. start with a clean slate
  6. start-up
  7. start-ups
  8. startable
  9. startbox
  10. startboxes
  11. started

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: start-up (page history and authors); startup (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: “start-up.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/start-up. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.