to start a new life
25
3.5
- phrasal verb
:
empezar una nueva vida
- After his divorce, he decided to start a new life in a different city.
- start a new life here
- start a new life somewhere
- start a new life together
I wanted to just start a new life.
- I wanted to just start a new life.
- I fled across the country to start a new life, one for freedom and for hope.
- So for me to see my mum get clean, she moved us to Bournemouth, She started a new life down there.
- I can carry on drinking, start a new life and just avoid the the problem or I can fix the problem.
Examples
-
I moved to Vermont many years ago in order to start a new life for my art, for my son and for myself.
-
I want to go away somewhere and start a new life.
Fiction book (1998) -
So you are starting a new life and it is difficult.
-
You will leave and start a new life, a new beginning.
-
We can start a new life together, just you and I.
-
You must start a new life.
-
Find somebody new and start a new life.
Fiction book (2002) -
Time to start a new life, pal.
-
I fled across the country to start a new life, one for freedom and for hope.
-
What you're really doing here, Tommy... ...is preparing yourself to reenter society and start a new life.
Synonyms
283
2.5
To do something again from the start after a mistake or problem
33
4.0
To make big positive changes in your life after hard times
26
3.6
Begin again without bringing past problems
1
4.8
To go through a big change in your life or situation
How Different
33
4.4
13
4.6
25
3.5
- Informal
26
3.6
321
3.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to begin living in a completely different way' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'start' (to begin) with the noun phrase 'a new life' (a newly different way of living). This is a straightforward compositional pattern found across languages and standard English (start + NP), so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would readily infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Start a new life paints the picture of someone moving to a new place, leaving old things behind and beginning again. That's why it means 'to begin living in a completely different way' after a big change.