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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

“If there’s a false start, someone complains,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 15, 2026

But traders warn that the talk might be another false start toward peace.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 25, 2026

To say he has had a false start at Anfield is a masterpiece of understatement.

From BBC • Nov. 22, 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