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Definitions

bootstrap

[boot-strap] / ˈbutˌstræp /


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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“I figured we can absolutely bootstrap this with no corporate background, just hard work and the American dream, we’ll work 80-plus hours a week, we’ll make it happen,” Lieu said.

From The Wall Street Journal Jun. 30, 2026

“We built the Data Factory to bootstrap the initial intelligence for the Sonny robot, so that we can begin to deploy Sonny into the field,” said Josh Gruenstein, co-founder of Tutor.

From Los Angeles Times May 31, 2026

One promising strategy is known as the "bootstrap" approach.

From Science Daily May 19, 2026

SilverSneakers represents just a small slice of that — the costs are not broken out by MedPAC — but it’s significant enough that the bootstrap venture has turned into a big business.

From MarketWatch Nov. 5, 2025

A person who pulls himself up from a low environment via the bootstrap route has two choices.

From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith

He had no experience in elected office, no notable history of activist organizing, no college degree, no significant success in the private sector, not even a record of pulling himself up by his proverbial bootstraps.

From Slate Jul. 8, 2026

Those who pull themselves up by the bootstraps should be able to attain a life materially more comfortable than their parents’.

From The Wall Street Journal Nov. 20, 2025

“You’ve got to pick up the bootstraps of your state until your state finally cares for all of its families,” Becerra said.

From Seattle Times Feb. 27, 2024

Talking about the center, Mabon quoted the adage: “You can’t pull yourself up by the bootstraps if you don’t have boots.”

From Los Angeles Times Oct. 19, 2023

American autobiographical literature is filled with numerous accounts of remarkable men who pulled themselves to the summit by their bootstraps.

From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey

But he’s bootstrapped himself into intelligence and with savvy networking and know-how, he becomes indispensable to the British, volunteering as a major to survey land and negotiate treaties with the Native tribes and French army.

From Los Angeles Times Jul. 2, 2026

He bootstrapped that company and sold it for over $100 million in 2021.

From The Wall Street Journal Feb. 4, 2026

“We watched the pilot, and we were extremely impressed with how she’d bootstrapped this and essentially made it herself,” Ravi Nandan, the head of television at A24, said in an interview.

From New York Times Jan. 22, 2024

But many of these smaller livestream channels are more bootstrapped operations, adherent to the same grind culture their content facilitates.

From Slate Sep. 2, 2023

The men bootstrapped the enterprise they now call EarthViews by raising $40,000 from a “friends and family” funding round to pay for equipment and travel.

From Seattle Times Jul. 8, 2022

Putting aside the chutzpah of the bootstrapping, it’s not clear that the court is wrong.

From Slate Jun. 30, 2026

Enter Dell Chandler, a failed English professor turned bootstrapping private detective, hired by Dr. Cutty to investigate.

From Los Angeles Times May 12, 2026

It’s a quintessential American story, of bootstrapping from the humblest of origins to the literal highest of heights.

From Seattle Times Sep. 14, 2023

In the book you brought up "Little House on the Prairie," which is a narrative that speaks very specifically to the ways in which bootstrapping looks different to girls, and from a very young age.

From Salon Apr. 1, 2023

He had worked as a printer but was now bootstrapping his own print shop on a shoestring, and became entirely self-employed.

From How and When to Be Your Own Doctor by Solomon, Steve




Vocabulary lists containing bootstrap


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