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conversation starter

conversation starter

7 3.5
Something that makes people start talking, like a topic or object
  • noun
translation icon : iniciador de conversación
  • Often it's meant as a conversation starter or an ice breaker.

It's most likely right now just more of a conversation starter amongst Republicans.

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Examples

  • If you find yourself tongue-tied around colleagues, brush up on these conversation starters so there won't be any awkward silences.

    Blog text (32)
  • CEH can definitely be a conversation starter with potential clients or employers.

    Blog text (26)
  • I just use it as a conversation starter.

  • How about this conversation starter?

  • The discussion leader of the group could be provided with a series of questions to use as conversation starters.

    Academic text (2002)
  • Asking one another, "How do you want to change the world?" would be a reasonable conversation starter.

    Blog text (34)
  • The weekend is another great conversation starter because it can lead to many different topics.

    Blog text (32)
  • They're a great conversation starter.

  • The Family Table offers healthy recipes, conversation starters, and ideas for involving everyone in meal planning and cooking.

    Blog text (29)
  • Four recent picture books about groundbreaking African Americans are good conversation starters for kids during Black History Month.

Antonyms

A comment that leaves people with no polite reply

How Conversational

icebreaker
13 4.1
conversation starter
7 3.5
comment
1.0
topic
1.0

Surface Forms

Morphology

conversation + starter

The meaning 'something that initiates a conversation' is directly and transparently derived from the constituents 'conversation' (a dialogue) and 'starter' (one that starts). This is a straightforward English compound/nominalization pattern found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows the words will readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Conversation starter comes from the simple image of a small thing that 'starts' a conversation, the starter that makes people begin to talk, like a funny question or an interesting object. So, a conversation starter means anything you use to 'begin to talk' with someone.