onset

English

Etymology

From on- +‎ set. Compare Old English onsettan (“to impose; oppress, bear down”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɒnˌsɛt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American, Midland US, Southern American English) IPA^(key): /ˈɔnˌsɛt/
• (General American, Inland Northern American, NYC, cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈɑnˌsɛt/
• Hyphenation: on‧set

Noun

onset (plural onsets)

1. (archaic) An attack; an assault especially of an army.

   Synonym: storming

   • c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     Heralds, from off our towers, we might behold
     From first to last, the onset and retire
     Of both your armies

   • 1800, William Wordsworth, Six thousand Veterans:

     Who on that day the word of onset gave.

   • 1950, C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe:

     And Peter's tired army cheered, and the newcomers roared, and the enemy squealed and gibbered till the wood re-echoed with the din of that onset.

2. (medicine) The initial phase of a disease or condition, in which symptoms first become apparent.

   the onset of schizophrenia

   • 2022 December 28, Paul Stephen, “Network News: Adrian Shooter CBE: rail industry mourns "a great man"”, in RAIL, number 973, page 6:

     Widely credited as an early pioneer of the modern railway, Shooter died peacefully of his own choosing in Switzerland on December 13, having bravely lived with the onset of motor neurone disease in the final years of his life.

3. (phonology) The initial portion of a syllable, preceding the syllable nucleus.

   Hypernym: anlaut

   Holonym: syllable

   Coordinate terms: nucleus, coda, rime

4. (acoustics) The beginning of a musical note or other sound, in which the amplitude rises from zero to an initial peak.
5. A setting about; a beginning.

   Synonyms: start, beginning; see also Thesaurus:beginning

   the onset of puberty

   • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Delays”, in The Essayes , 3rd edition, London: Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:

     There is surely no greater wisdom than well to time the beginnings and onsets of things.

   • 2013 June 29, “High and wet”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 28:

     Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale. The early, intense onset of the monsoon on June 14th swelled rivers, washing away roads, bridges, hotels and even whole villages. Rock-filled torrents smashed vehicles and homes, burying victims under rubble and sludge.

6. (obsolete) Anything added, such as an ornament or as a useful appendage.
   • c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     And will with deeds requite thy gentleness:
     And, for an onset, Titus, to advance
     Thy name and honourable family,
     Lavinia will I make my empress.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

onset (third-person singular simple present onsets, present participle onsetting, simple past and past participle onset)

1. (obsolete) To assault; to set upon.
2. (obsolete) To set about; to begin.

References

• “onset”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• 'onest, ETNOs, Eston, SONET, Stone, notes, onest, set on, seton, steno, steno-, stone, tones

Aragonese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /onˈset/
• Rhymes: -et
• Syllabification: on‧set

Noun

onset m (plural onsetz)

1. bear cub, bearlet

Related terms