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Glite Dictionary
to start to sag

to start to sag

1 3.7
Begin to droop or hang down because of weight
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : comenzar a ceder
  • At pedal stroke sixty, his shoulders started to sag and wobble a little bit.
  • starts to sag a bit

Well, you know, when it starts to sag, the income goes down.

Examples

  • The rod shuddered and started to sag toward the wall.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • The skin would start to sag when hyaluronic acid that serves as an adhesive starts to break down.

    Blog text (6)

  • " Wednesday, I bought a new curtain rod and installed it in her dining room where the old one had started to sag.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Know if your core starts to sag, if you're dropping in your chest at all, stop, lose the band.

  • After years of use, the old sofa began to start to sag, making it uncomfortable to sit on.

  • The roof started to start to sag under the weight of the heavy snowfall, prompting repairs.

  • As the heavy bags were loaded on the shelf, the wire rack began to start to sag under the weight.

Synonyms

to droop
vsto start to sag
22 3.9

To bend down and hang limply because of being tired or without water

is the first stage caused by weight or wear rather than by tiredness
to sag
vsto start to sag
19 2.8

To bend downward because of weight or weak support

is the initial stage when the hanging downward first begins
to sag down
vsto start to sag
3.7

To hang lower because of weight or loss of support

is the beginning of the motion rather than an act that causes it

Antonyms

to rise
718 1.0

To move upward into the air, like smoke or mist

How Droopy

to collapse
579 3.9
to sag
19 2.8
to droop
22 3.9
to start to sag
1 3.7
to bend
268 1.0

Surface Forms

start to sag infinitive
started to sag past
started to sag past participle
starting to sag present participle
starts to sag third person singular

Morphology

start + to + sag

The meaning is fully compositional: 'start' (to begin) combined with 'sag' (to droop) yields 'begin to droop', and the particle 'to' is just an infinitival marker with no added idiomatic meaning. This common verb + infinitive pattern is cross-linguistically frequent and should be immediately understandable to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.

Etymology

The phrase start to sag shows a simple picture: something starts to sag, like a bookshelf or mattress that bends in the middle and 'droops' under heavy weight or from getting old, so it means 'to begin to hang down loosely'.