false starts
Premature launch attempts
False starts are beginnings that fail to take hold, requiring you to start over.
In racing, a false start occurs when a competitor moves before the signal, often resulting in a restart or penalty.
More broadly, the term describes any aborted attempt: After several false starts, I finally got the essay going.
In speech, false starts are partial utterances abandoned mid-sentence as the speaker reconsiders what to say.
- restartCommence anew
- starting overBeginning again from scratch
- disfluencyInterruption in speech flow
- abortiveFailed before completion
- hesitationDelay from uncertainty
do-over · take two · back to square one · clean slate · faltering · mulligan · misstep · truncation · pause · botch · retraction · cluttering · retry · rough draft · repetition · fillers · stammering · errors
- penaltiespenalty, fine, civil penalty, criminal penalty, infractions
- ineffective responsesexcuses, deflection, denial, avoidance, stonewalling
- sports rulesrulebook, violations, volleyball rules, rules, offside
- misjudgementsmistakes, blunders, errors, oversights, lapses
- rowingoars, oar, rowing, crew, scull
- speech fillersuh, um, er, hmm, like
false startssmooth sailing
Untroubled progress forward
hitting the ground running · gaining traction · building momentum · flying start · running start
start, false, falsehood, falsely, falsify, falseness, falsified, falsification, falsifying