Self-starter
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A person who shows initiative and resourcefulness.
"Purchasing a snowplow transforms Homer into a new man. Mr. Burns' laziest employee suddenly becomes an ambitious self-starter who buys ad time on local television at 3:17 A.M^([sic]) (prime viewing hours, Homer gingerly volunteers, for everyone from alcoholics to the unemployable to garden-variety angry loners) and makes a homemade commercial costarring his family."
- 2 an electric starting motor that automatically starts an internal-combustion engine wordnet
- 3 A mechanism (usually one operated by electricity, compressed air, a spring, or an explosive gas), attached to an internal-combustion engine, as on an automobile, and used as a means of starting the engine without cranking it by hand.
- 4 an energetic person with unusual initiative wordnet
- 5 An engine so equipped, or the vehicle that it powers.
"His ancient Cadillac was one of the first self-starters."
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"Purchasing a snowplow transforms Homer into a new man. Mr. Burns' laziest employee suddenly becomes an ambitious self-starter who buys ad time on local television at 3:17 A.M^([sic]) (prime viewing hours, Homer gingerly volunteers, for everyone from alcoholics to the unemployable to garden-variety angry loners) and makes a homemade commercial costarring his family."
Etymology
From self- + starter.
More for "self-starter"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.