The AI-powered English dictionary
plural springboards
A diving board consisting of a flexible, springy, cantilevered platform, used for diving into water. examples
(gymnastics) A small platform on springs and usually hinged at one end, used to launch or vault onto other equipment. examples
(figuratively) Anything that gives a person or thing energy or impulse, or that serves to launch or begin something. quotations examples
It was the section of the North Midland Railway from Derby to Ambergate which provided the springboard for a scheme that took shape in the early part of 1845 for a route through the Peak to Manchester.
1960 March, J. P. Wilson, E. N. C. Haywood, “The route through the Peak - Derby to Manchester: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 148
third-person singular simple present springboards, present participle springboarding, simple past and past participle springboarded
(transitive) To launch or propel as if from a springboard, especially toward political office. quotations examples
Such a change could amount to a seismic shift in the nation’s electoral dynamics, potentially springboarding a Republican into the White House, and the possibility has animated hopeful Republicans and fearful Democrats.
2007 October 4, Jennifer Steinhauer, “In Ballot Fight, California Gets a Taste of ’08”, in New York Times