head start

noun

1

: an advantage granted or achieved at the beginning of a race, a chase, or a competition

a 10-minute head start

2

: a favorable or promising beginning

took some extra classes to get a head start in college

Examples of head start in a Sentence

They gave me a five-minute head start.

She took some extra classes to get a head start in her career.

His natural athletic talent gave him a head start on his peers.

Recent Examples on the Web

That is a new discipline, and the businesses building it now will have a significant head start. — Derya Matras, Fortune, 8 Oct. 2026

Galaxy and Pixel owners have had a head start with Circle to Search, and Google's approach remains very fast. — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 6 Oct. 2026

In fact, now might be the perfect time to get a head start on your Black Friday shopping, especially with some products dropping to their lowest prices ever. — Katie Decker-Jacoby, StyleCaster, 6 Oct. 2026

This would keep storage levels sufficient and allow power companies and countries to get a better head start on refilling natural-gas storage for next year. — Brian Sullivan, CNBC, 1 Oct. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1859, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for head start

• apart
• depart
• flowchart
• forepart
• impart
• pushcart
• rampart
• redstart
• restart
• subpart
• sweetheart
• upstart

Kids Definition

head start

noun

1

: an advantage given to a contestant at the beginning of a race

a five-minute head start

2

: a favorable or promising beginning