1
: a person who initiates or sets going: such as
a
: an official who gives the signal to begin a race
b
: one who dispatches vehicles
2
a
: one that engages in a competition
especially
: a member of a starting lineup
b
: one that begins to engage in an activity or process
3
: one that causes something to begin operating: such as
a
: a device for starting an engine
especially
: an electric motor used to start an internal combustion engine
b
: material containing microorganisms (such as yeast) used to induce a desired fermentation
4
: something that is the beginning of a process, activity, or series
especially
: appetizer
: of, relating to, or being an item acquired with the expectation that a more elaborate or sophisticated model will be acquired in the future
a starter home
Examples of starter in a Sentence
Noun
The team is playing only five regular starters.
The car's starter needs to be replaced.
Recent Examples on the Web
Jesse Newell, Kansas City Star, 13 June 2025
There’s some precedent for slow starters winning at Oakmont, however: Larry Nelson was six shots back after Round 1 of the 1983 U.S. Open, while John Mahaffey was eight off the lead at the PGA five years earlier.
—Justin Ray, New York Times, 13 June 2025
Corey Seymour, Vogue, 12 June 2025
Audi sells a 48 V mild hybrid Q5—essentially a powerful starter motor—in Europe but currently has no plans to bring that version to the US.
—ArsTechnica, 11 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for starter
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Noun
After being declared the starter at left tackle in the preseason, Suamataia was benched in the fourth quarter of his second game and never regained a full-time role.
—Jesse Newell, Kansas City Star, 13 June 2025
There’s some precedent for slow starters winning at Oakmont, however: Larry Nelson was six shots back after Round 1 of the 1983 U.S. Open, while John Mahaffey was eight off the lead at the PGA five years earlier.
—Justin Ray, New York Times, 13 June 2025
Adjective
After Cash’s Rick Rubin album, the audience—in New York, at least—was magically transformed into leather jacketed hipster boys working on starter mutton chops and Sarah Lawrence girls wearing gingham skirts and Frye boots, all of them claiming to have grown up on the stuff.
—Corey Seymour, Vogue, 12 June 2025
Audi sells a 48 V mild hybrid Q5—essentially a powerful starter motor—in Europe but currently has no plans to bring that version to the US.
—ArsTechnica, 11 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for starter
Cite this Entry
“Starter.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/starter. Accessed 17 Jun. 2025.
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