self-starter

[self-stahr-ter]

noun

1. starter.

2. Informal.,  a person who begins work or undertakes a project on their own initiative, without needing to be told or encouraged to do so.

self-starter

noun

1. the former name for a starter

2. a person who is strongly motivated and shows initiative, esp at work

Other Word Forms

• self-starting adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of self-starter¹

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

These self-starters are American citizens, immigrants living in the country legally and illegally, and are part of a $504-million industry in L.A., according to estimates from the Economic Roundtable, a nonprofit public policy research organization.

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She’s a natural, a self-starter, a quick learner, a hard bargainer, a mistress of disguise — really just putting on a wig, some good clothes and a posh British or American accent.

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Still, Swift, her team, and the media have successfully branded the singer as a self-starter.

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Instead, Shlaes gives impressionistic sketches of “self-starters” who made good during the New Deal, and offers those as evidence that FDR’s programs were unnecessary.

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So when you croon the lines, you need to both gently guide them so they’re not intimidated, but also motivate them to be an independent self-starter.

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