start off
Britishverb
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(intr) to set out on a journey
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to be or make the first step in an activity; initiate
he started the show off with a lively song
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(tr) to cause (a person) to act or do something, such as to laugh, to tell stories, etc
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Set out on a trip, as in We plan to start off in the morning . [Early 1800s] Also see start out .
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start someone off . Cause someone to set out or to begin something, as in Mother packed their lunches and started them off , or Paul started them off on their multiplication tables . [Early 1700s] For start off on the right foot , see get off on the right foot .
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
For many of the tracks on “Halo,” Day would start off with a producing collaborator and finish on her own: “They’ll usually send me home with the Ableton file, then I get to freak it.”
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 3, 2026
Women and men start off relatively equal when they enter the workforce, but within a few years, their earning paths diverge.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 6, 2026
The new year tends to start off on a positive note.
From Barron's • Dec. 31, 2025
“Often they start off smaller scale than they should be, and so then they struggle. They’re more likely to exit because of that.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 3, 2025
Under her guidance, we learned which lotions to start off with, and what worked best for various weather conditions and times of day.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
