NONSTARTERS Synonyms: 44 Similar and Opposite Words

nonstarters

noun

plural of nonstarter

as in losers

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Recent Examples of Synonyms for nonstarters

Noun

Four of the last seven Super Bowl losers missed the playoffs the next season, including the last two (the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers).

— Chad Graff, New York Times, 3 Sep. 2026
Here’s a look at how the global economy has weathered the war — and the winners and losers.

— Matt Sedensky, Los Angeles Times, 31 Aug. 2026

Definition of losers

Noun

In 2023, roadway bombs planted by drug cartels in the western Jalisco state killed six people and injured another 14.

— María Verza, Los Angeles Times, 4 Sep. 2026
Nearly 40% of Russia's federal spending is allocated to defense and security, supporting the production of bombs and tanks that are sent directly to the frontlines.

— Francesca Chambers, USA Today, 2 Sep. 2026

Definition of bombs

Noun

But in a world where a few basis points separates legends from washouts, a 10-point edge is an enormous windfall for anyone who trusted Kalshi’s numbers over those crunched by CME, the giant futures-exchange operator.

— Liz Hoffman, semafor.com, 6 Aug. 2026
The two subsequent washouts have given Sri Lanka a 1-0 series victory.

— ABC News, ABC News, 8 June 2026

Definition of washouts

Noun

But after Annapurna moved from financing its movies to distributing them in 2017, costs rose, flops piled up, and Megan Ellison scaled back her ambitions.

— Brent Lang, IndieWire, 26 Aug. 2026
In taking such a single-minded view of the market, Tottenham are hoping to avoid signing any expensive flops – think Tanguy Ndombele or Roberto Soldado – or talented players who are unsuited to English football, such as Giovani Lo Celso.

— Dan Kilpatrick, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2026

Definition of flops

Noun

Being able to better understand these trends and know what tools will be available to manage them could thus do much to shore up food networks and prepare for disasters.

— Anna Nelson, Foreign Affairs, 4 Sep. 2026
China is often slow to release complete information on the death toll of major disasters.

— ABC News, ABC News, 4 Sep. 2026

Definition of disasters

Noun

That didn’t stop catastrophes like the 2018 fire in the Sierra foothills that destroyed the town of Paradise and killed 85.

— Michael Finnegan, Los Angeles Times, 30 Aug. 2026
Experts warn that catastrophes like this are likely to happen again because rising temperatures in the Himalayas, which are warming faster than the global average, destabilize the region's 60,000 glaciers and trigger more avalanches.

— Brittney Melton, NPR, 27 Aug. 2026

Definition of catastrophes

Noun

Contained within all these fiascoes is a subtly different conservative movement.

— Benjamin Wallace-Wells, New Yorker, 26 Apr. 2026
Trump is the most corrupt and scandal-plagued president since Nixon; indeed, his fiascoes eclipse Nixon’s, but many of them remain mostly or somewhat hidden, thanks in part to a much more acquiescent Republican Congress than the one Nixon had.

— David A. Graham, The Atlantic, 8 Apr. 2026

Definition of fiascoes

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nonstarter

nonstarters

nonstationary

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“Nonstarters.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nonstarters. Accessed 8 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of nonstarters

noun

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