kick off

What it means

To start an event, meeting, or activity, often in an energetic way. It comes from football, where 'kick-off' is the start of the match, and the term is now widely used in business and social settings.

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Examples

• We'll kick off the conference with a short welcome speech.
• The festival kicks off at noon on Saturday with a parade.
• Let's kick off this meeting by reviewing last quarter's results.
• She kicked off her birthday weekend with dinner at her favourite restaurant.

Where it comes from

Originally a football term referring to the opening kick of a match. The noun 'kick-off' refers to the start time of an event. Informal but used across many contexts.

Related phrasal verbs