to start with

Idioms  

1. Also, to begin with. In the first place, initially, as in We'll notify him by e-mail to start with, or To begin with, they haven't paid their taxes in years. The first term dates from the second half of the 1800s, the variant from the mid-1500s. Also see for openers.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

to start with

This is a hard one to start with because, while Aston Villa still haven't won or scored in the Premier League, they got a good win over Club Brugge in the Champions League on Tuesday.

From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026

“We really wanted to start with baby steps to get people used to outside and then go into letting your kids take the lead and learn from them.”

From Slate ● Sep. 5, 2026

Like all generational debates, to define what makes “millennial art,” we have to start with what it is not.

From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2026

I need to be wealthy,’ or ‘I need to start with $5,000 or $10,000’ ” to invest, said Matt Gellene, head of specialized consumer client solutions at Bank of America.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026

Try to start with simple music which either includes the names of the chords, or has simple chords in the accompaniment that will be relatively easy to find and name.

From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones

Related Words

• initially
• originally