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springboard
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As a noun, springboard means a diving board consisting of a flexible, springy, cantilevered platform, used for diving into water. As a verb, it means launch or propel as if from a springboard, especially toward political office.
Meanings of springboard
5 meaningsnoun
A diving board consisting of a flexible, springy, cantilevered platform, used for diving into water.
gymnasticsA small platform on springs and usually hinged at one end, used to launch or vault onto other equipment.
figurativelyAnything that gives a person or thing energy or impulse, or that serves to launch or begin something.
“The opportunity served a springboard to their success.”
A beginning from which an enterprise is launched
“he uses other people's ideas as a springboard for his own”
“reality provides the jumping-off point for his illusions”
“the point of departure of international comparison cannot be an institution but must be the function it carries out”
Similar: jumping-off point, point of departure
verb
To launch or propel as if from a springboard, especially toward political office.
Meanings from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0).