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

Officials made no signal because of the false start penalty. —Kirk Kenney, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Oct. 2025

Tripping and false start calls stacked up, and the biggest was Zollers’ intentional grounding that included a 10-second runoff. —Maddie Hartley, Kansas City Star, 26 Oct. 2025

Meanwhile, Russia is being hit with economic penalties from the United States following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s latest false start in peace talks. —Timothy Nerozzi, The Washington Examiner, 24 Oct. 2025

Ironically, the tush push attempt in today’s Vikings-Eagles game was voided due to a false start, although that was from Brown in the backfield. —Saad Yousuf, New York Times, 19 Oct. 2025

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