Head start

Idioms | B2

Listening exercises with “Head start”

The meaning of the expression head start is an advantage you have over someone else. This could be in a competition (e.g. a race), or more generally (e.g. in life).

When you decide that someone should be given an advantage (usually to make a situation fairer), we can say that you should give them a head start. If the advantage already exists, you can say that someone has a head start.

We can use the prepositions over/against/on if you want to include the people or things that someone has an advantage over, e.g. My language skills gave me a bit of a head start over my colleagues.

Have a go at these micro-dictation exercises to hear this expression being used in context – how much can you understand?

Accent: Ireland