the start of a race in which one competitor starts too early, before the official signal to begin

If an athlete makes a false start, the race must be restarted. 如果运动员抢跑，比赛就得重新开始。

an attempt to do something that fails because you are not ready or not able to do it

We had a couple of false starts because of computer problems, but now the project has really begun. 由于计算机方面的问题，我们的项目在初始阶段失败了几次，但是现在已经顺利展开。