false start

noun

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.
a failure to begin an undertaking successfully.

false-start

[ fawls-stahrt ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

verb (used without object)

Sports.

to leave the starting line or position too early and thereby necessitate repeating the signal to begin a race.

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Word History and Origins

Origin of false start¹

First recorded in 1805–15

Origin of false start²

First recorded in 1805–15

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Idioms and Phrases

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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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Lando Norris moved up from sixth on the grid to third on the first lap in Bahrain and was given a five-second penalty for a false start.

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For someone whose name translates to 'desire gifted' in English, the 19-year-old has shown vast quantities of both since putting that false start behind him in spectacular fashion.

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Norris, fighting back from sixth on the grid and a five-second penalty for a false start, had a chance to pass Russell going into the final lap, but could not make it work.

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But despite playing his part in Team GB's 4x100m relay bronze at Paris 2024 last summer, Azu has since described the experience of his first Olympic Games as "bittersweet" after he was disqualified from the individual event for a false start.

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Dutifully, fill-in Max Mitchell checked the box with a false start just before the two-minute warning.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

false Solomon's-seal false step

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