Noun point of departure has 2 senses
- jumping-off place, point of departure - a place from which an enterprise or expedition is launched; "one day when I was at a suitable jumping-off place I decided to see if I could find him"; "my point of departure was San Francisco"
--1 is a kind of beginning, origin, root, rootage, source
- springboard, jumping-off point, point of departure - 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"
--2 is a kind of beginning, start, commencement
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