starting 1 of 2

adjective

as in beginning

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starting

2 of 2

verb

present participle of start
1
as in jumping
to move suddenly and sharply (as in surprise) I started from my chair when I heard the sudden scream

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2
as in establishing
to be responsible for the creation and early operation or use of started the impressionist movement in art

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in activating
to cause to function trying to start the car on a frigid morning

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
4
as in commencing
to come into existence the fight started when one child tripped the other

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
5
as in protruding
to extend outward beyond a usual point frightened horses with starting eyes

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
6
as in launching
to take the first step in (a process or course of action) we'll be ready to start the concert in a moment

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of starting
Adjective
Antonacci stood out as the team’s sparkplug, but was not in the starting lineup for two of the ALDS games. — Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 13 Oct. 2026 Stewart rejoined teammates this week and was in the starting lineup Saturday. — ABC News, 10 Oct. 2026 The Heat went with a starting lineup of Donaldson, Larsson, Fontecchio, Jovic and Richards for Saturday’s exhibition. — Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 10 Oct. 2026 The Hawks continue to test out different lineups, moving Aaron Wiggins into the starting lineup in place of Jalen Johnson (rest). — Lauren Williams, AJC.com, 9 Oct. 2026 McDowell, who was in the starting lineup for his Demon Deacons debut, hit 3 of 8 shots versus Georgetown. — Gary Bedore, Kansas City Star, 7 Oct. 2026 If either misses significant time, Barron could move into a starting role alongside Abrams-Draine. — Sam Jane, Denver Post, 4 Oct. 2026 Jayden Daniels could be ready for Week 5 Jayden Daniels’ return to the starting lineup could be just one week away. — Jonathan Jones, New York Times, 3 Oct. 2026 The starting lineup for the Fever just couldn't get much going. — David Troy Outkick, FOXNews.com, 29 Sep. 2026
Verb
Any function whose work can be pointed at a proper model of its underlying business, instead of at a general-purpose language model, is starting to compound the same way Anthropic’s engineering did a year ago. — Stephen Messer, Fortune, 23 Oct. 2026 Charged with home invasion at 16, he was sentenced to eight years in prison as an adult, starting his sentence at age 17. — Steve Sadin, Chicago Tribune, 22 Oct. 2026 Starting left tackle Andrew Thomas (groin), starting right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor (calf) and swing tackle Marcus Mbow (knee) all returned to limited participation in practice after sitting out Wednesday. — Pat Leonard, New York Daily News, 22 Oct. 2026 In Central Florida, many jobs that do not require a college degree offer starting wages of $17–$20 per hour. — Kathleen Plinske, The Orlando Sentinel, 22 Oct. 2026 Our team plans to test in a larger clinical trial whether starting survivorship care before radiation helps patients finish treatment on time and maintain quality of life, while also examining how teams coordinate care and referrals. — Marci Lee Nilsen, The Conversation, 22 Oct. 2026 The $10 million, part of a settlement offered by a company that overcharged Medicaid, was diverted into other hands, starting with the Hope Florida Foundation, the favorite charity of First Lady Casey DeSantis. — Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 22 Oct. 2026 Moody's, citing PitchBook data, said private equity distributions dropped from more than 30% of starting net asset value in 2022 to about 12% today. — Hugh Leask, CNBC, 16 Oct. 2026 Starting running back Saquon Barkley and starting receiver DeVonta Smith both didn’t practice Wednesday because of hamstring injuries. — Rohan Nadkarni, NBC news, 15 Oct. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for starting
  1. beginning
  2. jumping
  3. establishing
  4. activating
  5. commencing
  6. protruding
  7. launching
  8. initial
Adjective
  • After his beginning years in the cafe, Trygar has since moved to the maintenance department and has been responsible for taking care some of Kennywood's iconic rides like the Racer, the Log Jammer, and the Merry Go Round.
    — Mike Darnay, CBS News, 7 May 2026
  • The band joins Yellowcard for the Up Up Down Down Tour, a 27-date spring outing with Plain White T’s beginning May 6 in Atlanta and concluding June 20 in Springfield, Massachusetts.
    — Jessica Lynch, Billboard, 21 Feb. 2026
Definition of beginning
Verb
  • The latest push to end the practice began in June after an 18-year-old Indian tourist, Romanch Mahajan, died after jumping from a runaway carriage.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 23 Oct. 2026
  • The bill was renamed in June after Romanch Mahajan, an 18-year-old tourist from India, died while jumping after his mother when their carriage horse bolted on a sightseeing tour in the park.
    — Evan Simko-Bednarski, New York Daily News, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of jumping
Verb
  • The first flight will be a milestone in establishing how the design performs beyond the development environment.
    — Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 25 Oct. 2026
  • There is overwhelming support among Jewish Israelis for establishing a state commission to investigate the events of October 7th, and for imposing the draft on the ultra-Orthodox.
    — Ruth Margalit, New Yorker, 25 Oct. 2026
Definition of establishing
Verb
  • Those cases often centered on devices mistakenly activating or capturing speech that was not intended as a command.
    — MacKenzie Sigalos,Annie Palmer, CNBC, 18 Oct. 2026
  • Semaglutide mimics its activity by activating GLP-1 receptors in the body.
    — Miami Herald, Miami Herald, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of activating
Verb
  • Holmes was convicted of fraud in 2018 and sentenced to just over 11 years in federal prison, commencing in May 2023.
    — Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 16 Oct. 2026
  • The film will shoot on location at the heart of Pendle in Lancashire, with principal photography commencing end of September.
    — Andreas Wiseman, Deadline, 14 Sep. 2026
Definition of commencing
Verb
  • Once fished to the brink of extinction globally, sand tiger sharks, that iconic aquarium shark with a jaw of protruding, jagged teeth that only a mother could love, have been increasing in the Boston Harbor over the last decade.
    — Asia London Palomba, Christian Science Monitor, 20 Oct. 2026
  • The face is a glossy black plastic with the exterior lenses slightly protruding, keeping the front from looking like a single flat surface.
    — Will Greenwald, PC Magazine, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of protruding
Verb
  • One of the houses reportedly belonged to Chen Mechan, or Mad Dog, the gang accused of launching the attack on the technicians.
    — Widlore Mérancourt, Washington Post, 23 Oct. 2026
  • French authorities will be launching a massive security operation with some 70,000 police officers deployed across the country over the weekend, according to the interior ministry.
    — Ivana Kottasová, CNN Money, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of launching
Adjective
  • Court records show that the investigation into the initial allegations was inconclusive.
    — Kacen Bayless, Kansas City Star, 22 Oct. 2026
  • The progress came roughly a year after the program received funding for its initial engineering, manufacturing and development phase.
    — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 21 Oct. 2026
Definition of initial

Browse Nearby Words

starters
starting
startle
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Cite this Entry

“Starting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/starting. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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