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• false start
  false start

  noun

  a premature start by one or more of the contestants, as in a swimming or track event, necessitating calling the field back to start again.
• false-start
  false-start

  verb (used without object)

  to leave the starting line or position too early and thereby necessitate repeating the signal to begin a race.

false start

¹ American  

noun

1. Sports. a premature start by one or more of the contestants, as in a swimming or track event, necessitating calling the field back to start again.

2. a failure to begin an undertaking successfully.

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false-start ² American  

[fawls-stahrt] / ˈfɔlsˈstɑrt /

verb (used without object)

Sports.

1. to leave the starting line or position too early and thereby necessitate repeating the signal to begin a race.

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false start Idioms  

1. A wrong beginning, as in After several false starts she finally managed to write the first chapter. The term originated in racing, where it refers to beginning a race before the starting signal has been given. The expression was soon transferred to other kinds of failed beginning. [Early 1800s]

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Etymology

Origin of false start¹

First recorded in 1805–15

Origin of false-start²

First recorded in 1805–15

Example Sentences

Until Nvidia can deliver clear follow-through, the risk remains that this move may have been a false start rather than the beginning of a sustained advance.

From Barron's • May 4, 2026

Like an umpire in football who calls a holding penalty, the only time anyone notices a starter in track is when there’s a false start.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 15, 2026

After a false start at a resort off Trieste, he arrives in Venice and rides across the lagoon to nearby Lido.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 4, 2026

The question hanging over their conference in Bournemouth this weekend is expressed by one of their MPs: "Where do we go now, to make sure it's not a false start?"

From BBC • Sep. 20, 2025

However, she had already made a false start with Dante’s Inferno and had to abandon reading it partway through, and she did not want to repeat this misstep with the Hesperus.

From "The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling" by Maryrose Wood