to start out
7
2.5
- phrasal verb
- /stɑrt aʊt/
- Cecil says, "Howard Johnson started out with three ice cream flavors in a store by a commuter rail station."
Examples
-
The Major galloped past them, looking as fresh as when they had started out that morning.
Fiction book (1994) -
When we started out on tour, we were full of ideas.
-
Nobody is in the road as he starts out for the garden.
Fiction book (1995) -
Anthony gets up and starts out across the parking lot, hands in his pockets, not too quickly.
Fiction book (1996) -
You started out in Rampart, right?
-
Many of today's community mural artists started out as commercial wall painters.
Academic text (2002) -
We decided to start out early to avoid the traffic on our way to the beach.
-
If you start out with a clear plan, your project will have a better chance of success.
-
When you start out on a new job, it is important to ask questions to learn quickly.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
To begin an action, event or process
774
1.8
To begin doing something, for example a task or meeting
598
2.3
To start doing something or to leave
549
3.2
To leave a place quickly, often to travel somewhere else
249
2.5
To leave a place to start a trip
170
1.3
To leave a place to start a journey
113
4.7
To start a new, important, or difficult activity
103
2.5
To leave a place and start a journey by car or bus
95
4.2
To start a new project, activity or journey that is often big and difficult
65
2.4
To begin a journey to go to another place
53
2.4
To begin a journey toward a place
10
4.9
To start a trip by walking in the countryside
8
3.9
To begin a journey to a place
Antonyms
How Far
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to take the first steps / begin' is directly and compositionally built from 'start' (to begin) with the particle 'out' conveying outward/initiation sense; the verb+particle pattern transparently signals beginning. This is a common, non-metaphorical construction found across languages, so an average B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Start out comes from the simple picture of walking away from a place to begin a trip: you start and go out the door. That's why it means 'to begin a journey or set off for a place'.