Learned not to start or repeat (7)
I believe the answer is:
iterate
'repeat' is the definition.
('iterate' can be a synonym of 'repeat')
'learned not to start' is the wordplay.
'learned' becomes 'literate' ('literate' can be a synonym of 'learned').
'not to start' means to remove the first letter.
'literate' with its first letter taken away is 'ITERATE'.
'or' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for iterate that I've seen before include "Utter or perform repeatedly" , "State repeatedly, say again" , "Say again, repeat" , "Repeat, state again" , "Recapitulate" .)