nonstarter

noun

Etymology

From non- + starter.

  1. derived from *(s)ter-✻ — “to be stiff”
  2. inherited from *sturtijan✻ — “to startle, move, set in motion”
  3. inherited from styrtan — “to leap up, start”
  4. inherited from sterten — “to leap up suddenly, rush out”
  5. suffixed as starter — “start + er”
  6. formed as nonstarter — “non- + starter”

Definitions

  1. A project that has no chance of success.

    • The problem with the CRFB and CBO ideas is that they would be nonstarters politically.
  2. A horse that does not run in a race for which it has been entered.

  3. A loser

    A loser; a person who is bound to fail.

    • But Berg was just a fool, a buffoon, a nonentity, a nonstarter so inept he took naps under bear bair.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for nonstarter. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA