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Glite Dictionary
🚀 Energetic beginning 🏃 Start while moving
running start

running start

2.8
A runner who moves at full speed before the race line
  • noun
translation icon : salida en carrera
  • The football team gained a competitive edge by having a running start during their practice drills.

Examples

  • The athlete took a running start before the race, allowing him to reach full speed as he crossed the start line.

  • It was a typical eastern Montana March day—wind that had taken a running start at the mountains then raced across the plains to cut your skin like stiff paper.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • To improve her chances of winning, she practiced taking a running start in her track events.

Synonyms

flying start
vsrunning start
  • Informal
1 3.7

A very good beginning that gives an early advantage

is literal physical motion before the line while this is more general
run-up
vsrunning start
1 4.2

A quick approach an athlete makes to gain speed before a jump or throw

is already at full speed before crossing the line, not gradually accelerating

Antonyms

stop
310 1.0

An act when something ends or pauses

How Fast

flying start
  • Informal
1 3.7
running start
2.8

Surface Forms

running start singular
running starts plural

Morphology

running + start

The meaning is a clear extension of the literal components: 'running' + 'start' suggests a beginning with motion or extra energy, so learners who know both words can infer a related physical sense. However, the transferred/abstract meaning (an initial advantage or momentum in non-physical contexts) is metaphorical and not fully predictable without prior exposure, so it is only partially transparent.

Etymology

Running start comes from races when a competitor is already running fast before they cross the start line. That extra speed helps them get ahead, so the phrase means 'a start while already moving'.