false start

noun

1

: a premature start (as of a race or football play)

2

: an unsuccessful attempt to begin something (such as a career)

Examples of false start in a Sentence

If someone makes a false start, the race is immediately stopped and the runners have to start again.

After several false starts, the researchers were finally able to identify the virus causing the epidemic.

Recent Examples on the Web

After Miami scored in the second OT period, Omar Thornton sacked Daniels on first down, forced an incompletion on second down, got FSU to commit a false start and forced another incompletion to set up fourth and 21. — Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 18 Oct. 2026

Kiffin used a timeout, and then Stein used one of his own just in time to negate a crystal-clear false start on his Wildcats. — Matt Reigle Outkick, FOXNews.com, 11 Oct. 2026

Additionally, there were 177 false start penalties, fifth most since 2000 and also well above the 10-year average of 146. — Jonathan Jones, New York Times, 10 Oct. 2026

UConn failed to convert after a false start on 4th-and-1, giving the Orange the ball back at their own 38, but their 44-yard field goal attempt was no good as time expired in regulation. — Joe Arruda, Hartford Courant, 3 Oct. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1815, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for false start

• counterpart
• apart
• depart
• flowchart
• forepart
• impart
• pushcart
• rampart
• redstart
• restart
• subpart
• sweetheart