make a fresh/new start

idiom

: to start a new life
Her divorce gave her an opportunity to make a fresh/new start.

Browse Nearby Words

make a fool (out) of
make a fresh/new start
make a good fist of
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Make a fresh/new start.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/make%20a%20fresh%2Fnew%20start. Accessed 30 Sep. 2025.

Copy Citation

Share

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Is it 'autumn' or 'fall'?

Using Bullet Points ( • )

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)

A Guide to Using Semicolons
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 3

'Za' and 9 Other Words to Help You Win at SCRABBLE

12 Words Whose History Will Surprise You

More Words with Remarkable Origins
See More

Popular

See More

Is it 'autumn' or 'fall'?

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 3
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
hedgehog reading a book
Challenging Words You Should Know Not a quiz for the pusillanimous
See All