STARTS Synonyms: 304 Similar and Opposite Words

starts 1 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of start

as in jumps

to move suddenly and sharply (as in surprise) I started from my chair when I heard the sudden scream

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as in founds

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

as in activates

to cause to function trying to start the car on a frigid morning

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in begins

to come into existence the fight started when one child tripped the other

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in protrudes

to extend outward beyond a usual point frightened horses with starting eyes

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in commences

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

starts

2 of 2

noun

plural of start

as in beginnings

the point at which something begins knew from the start of the game that he would win easily

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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 starts

Verb

The 5-foot-9 Everette also starts at safety, but wide receiver is his true calling card. — Patrick Z. McGavin, Chicago Tribune, 28 Oct. 2026 Breaking the pattern starts with recognizing some of the most common procrastination traps. — Alexandra Tirado Oropeza, Washington Post, 27 Oct. 2026 The Onyx 2630 starts at roughly US$123,000 (depending on the US/Canadian dollar exchange rate), with delivery available throughout the US and Canada. — New Atlas, 27 Oct. 2026 The process starts with Brogan and the Poetry Society of America, who search their vast library of over 10,000 books. — James Folta, Literary Hub, 27 Oct. 2026 In our current RAMageddon world, the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Pro currently starts at $2,499. — Antonio G. Di Benedetto, The Verge, 27 Oct. 2026 Futures Future bets are anything that is placed before the season starts or during the season on things like individual awards, division winners, team win totals, or the NBA Champion. — Outkick, FOXNews.com, 27 Oct. 2026 Lilly's Zepbound starts at $299 a month for a single-dose vial or multi-dose KwikPen. — Cheryl Winokur Munk, CNBC, 27 Oct. 2026 Because when Anthropic starts trading, that’s when the real, quantifiable test begins. — Allie Garfinkle, Fortune, 27 Oct. 2026

Noun

After slow starts, both teams are just fighting to earn a bowl bid, and the loser could see its head coach’s seat warm up even further. — Steven Johnson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 26 Oct. 2026 Gasser has thrown nine innings, allowed just six hits and one earned run over the two starts. — Outkick, FOXNews.com, 26 Oct. 2026 Young trails only Cam Newton (129 starts), Jake Delhomme (90) and Steve Beuerlein (51) in that category. — Scott Fowler, Charlotte Observer, 26 Oct. 2026 Verstappen has struggled with his starts several times this season, and Antonelli’s blast into the first corner never gave him a chance to win the inside line. — ABC News, 25 Oct. 2026 Variable-frequency drives regulate lifting, rotation, and jib movement, enabling smoother starts and stops and finer adjustments when positioning heavy components. — Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 24 Oct. 2026 Bell, who has five catches for 92 yards in five games and three starts, has played only 34 snaps with Caleb Douglas, who’s due to return Sunday after missing three games with an ankle injury. — Barry Jackson, Miami Herald, 23 Oct. 2026 The offense has been humming with Williams under center, averaging 31 points per game in his three starts. — Andrew Greif, NBC news, 19 Oct. 2026 Trump’s outreach to Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin occurs in fits and starts and lacks a clear set of objectives. — Charles Kupchan, Foreign Affairs, 19 Oct. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for starts

Verb

It's only bound to stay that way once the MacBook Air line jumps to the newest M6 chip and the MacBook Neo to a later version of the A series.

— Joe Osborne, PC Magazine, 24 Oct. 2026
Jayaprakash said capacity planning is one of the hardest parts of the business, because demand jumps every time a stronger model comes out.

— Beatrice Nolan, Fortune, 21 Oct. 2026

Definition of jumps

Verb

The agency rejected the recommendation, saying that using cameras that automatically activate when an officer pulls their weapon or activates a car siren could risk privacy concerns.

— ABC News, ABC News, 14 Oct. 2026
And a few are very highly specific, such as the protease that activates insulin, which only cuts near a very specific series of amino acids.

— ArsTechnica, ArsTechnica, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of activates

Verb

Starship is still under development, but once the rocket begins operational flights (and that day is getting closer), SpaceX plans to phase out the Falcon 9 and its Falcon Heavy variant almost entirely.

— Josh Dinner, Space.com, 23 Oct. 2026
The problem begins, in part, with medical training and education.

— Lyndon Haviland, Washington Post, 23 Oct. 2026

Definition of begins

Verb

Ping Ping, the male, has dark black circles around his eyes, while Fu Shuang, the female, has a forehead that protrudes a bit, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

— ABC News, ABC News, 27 Sep. 2026
Other animals on-site include a stable full of horses and Cowboy the tortoise, who is about the size of a lawnmower and whose head protrudes from what looks like a Venus flytrap made of bone.

— Emma Madden, Los Angeles Times, 21 Aug. 2026

Definition of protrudes

Verb

Or to be up high and see that, down below, a town is just a grid spread out on a map and nothing more, a grid that flickers with lights that spark on as the darkness commences.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 21 Oct. 2026
The process, in other words, commences with the industrial production of miniature supernovas.

— Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2026

Definition of commences

Noun

Set in the 1980s, the series will follow Marckinkus from his beginnings as Pope Paul VI’s unofficial bodyguard to his tenure at the helm of the Vatican’s finances.

— Ellise Shafer, Variety, 20 Oct. 2026
Murky beginnings Growing up in Weston-super-Mare, Archer was doted on by his mother, who worked as a journalist on the local paper and sent him to Wellington School on a scholarship.

— The Week UK, TheWeek, 17 Oct. 2026

Definition of beginnings

Verb

This discovery establishes a new way to couple mechanical motion and electricity at the smallest scales, opening new possibilities for molecular electronics.

— Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 24 Oct. 2026
Article 5 of the NATO charter contains the alliance's mutual-defense guarantee, which establishes that an attack on one is an attack on all.

— ABC News, ABC News, 24 Oct. 2026

Definition of establishes

Browse Nearby Words

startling

starts

star turn

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Style

“Starts.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/starts. Accessed 28 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of starts

verb

noun

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