self-starter
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.00 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
4
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A person who shows initiative and resourcefulness.
noun
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.
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "The grey Bentley convertible, the 1933 4½-litre with the Amherst-Villiers supercharger, had been brought round a few minutes earlier from the garage where he kept it and the engine had kicked directly he pressed the self-starter."
- "His ancient Cadillac was one of the first self-starters."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *swé? Proto-Indo-European *selbʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *selbaz Old English self Old English self- Middle English self- English self- English starter English self-starter From self- + starter.