startup

American  

[stahrt-uhp] / ˈstɑrtˌʌp /

Or start-up

noun

1. the act or fact of starting something; a setting in motion.

2. a new business venture, or a new commercial or industrial project.

   a small, 5-month-old internet startup.

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adjective

1. of or relating to the beginning of such a venture or project, especially to an investment made to initiate it.

   high start-up costs for construction of a new facility.

Etymology

Origin of startup

First recorded in 1550–60; noun use of verb phrase start up

Explanation

The word startup refers to either the process of beginning something or a new entrepreneurial business. The startup costs for your sister's startup might be higher than she thinks. Most startups offer their customers something innovative — a new product, like a dog toy that's truly indestructible, or an ingenious service, like a smartphone app that tells you where the closest public restrooms are. A startup begins with a great idea, is backed by investments of money, and is intended to grow very quickly — assuming it's successful.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

startup

Latitude, a Houston-based global payments infrastructure startup, landed $35 million in Series A funding.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026

The startup claimed its latest internal AI model had solved one of the famously complicated Millennium Prize math problems, an experiment it embarked on after seeing rumors online that archrival Anthropic had already done so.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026

Fiel, vice president of brand and creative at the AI-native startup Newton, loves reinventions of utilitarian clothing, favoring functional pieces in deep greens and blacks.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

Anthropic’s founders had left OpenAI in 2020 to found the AI startup in 2021 after clashing with executives at the ChatGPT maker over safety issues.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026

Both laboratories siphoned off Langley employees, including computers, for their startup staffs.

From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly