Your English writing platform
Discover LudwigThe phrase "a mere starting point" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to indicate that something is just the beginning or an initial suggestion, often implying that more development or elaboration is needed.
Example: "This outline is a mere starting point for our discussion, and we can expand on these ideas as we go along."
Alternatives: "just a preliminary step" or "only an initial suggestion".
Exact(10)
Sounds like a sad story, but the child's play was a mere starting point for a successful career in writing.
If Hume's remark is going to turn out to be a mere starting point, where in the name of all that's holy (really holy, genuinely holy) is the finishing line going to find us?
What's important about Yelp is not the star rating affixed to a restaurant — that's a mere starting point — but the site's sheer volume of reviews and the breadth of its reach.
Similarly, while his Steve Jobs film is officially based on Walter Isaacson's biography, Sorkin used it as a mere starting point, and it took him a year to interview Jobs's colleagues, competitors and family.
While traditional commentators were still debating whether Teresa Heinz Kerry had gone too far with her "shove it" remark to the editorial page editor of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the boisterous cyberrabble saw the comment as a mere starting point in arguments with the right.
So consider this a template, a mere starting point.
Similar(50)
They consider natural proteins mere starting points for drug development, reasoning that a drug, which is treating an abnormal situation (ie, a disease), may thus need to produce an abnormal effect.
A recurring refrain among Mr. Malick's collaborators was the degree to which his scripts are mere starting points, extensively revised, even discarded, once shooting begins.
Consider 3% GDP growth to be a mere start … first base.
Just a good starting point".
They're a great starting point.
Write better and faster with AI suggestions while staying true to your unique style.
Since I tried Ludwig back in 2017, I have been constantly using it in both editing and translation. Ever since, I suggest it to my translators at ProSciEditing.

Justyna Jupowicz-Kozak
CEO of Professional Science Editing for Scientists @ prosciediting.com