onset
Americannoun
-
onsets
plural
-
a beginning or start.
the onset of winter.
-
an assault or attack.
an onset of the enemy.
-
Phonetics. the segment of a syllable preceding the nucleus, as the gr in great.
noun
-
an attack; assault
-
a start; beginning
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of onset
Compare meaning
How does onset compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
When something is at its onset, it's at the beginning, just getting started, and it's often something that's not so pleasant. The onset of hurricane season is probably not the best time to visit the beach. If you catch an infection right at the onset and treat it immediately, the infection may not last so long. You can also have an early onset of something, and that usually means something you'd rather not have at all, as with early-onset Alzheimer's, a disease that usually appears after age 65. If you begin showing signs of the disease at a younger age than usual, you're said to have early-onset Alzheimer's.
Vocabulary lists containing onset
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
ACT Vocabulary List
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
The Crossover
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
A person suffering the onset of cognitive decline might easily fall prey to fraud attempts that target them through their smartphones.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026
Consumers watched the prices of goods like bananas rise after the onset of reciprocal tariffs, Mahoney noted, and fall only slightly after those tariffs were rescinded.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
This meant that a succession of actors played Arnold over the years, until their voices changed with the onset of puberty.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
About five years later, when Clive was 46, he was diagnosed with young onset dementia.
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026
As September days turned to late autumn, my world fell apart with the onset of Grandmother India’s leukemia and her death on October 24.
From "Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High" by Melba Pattillo Beals
Research also revealed associations between Agent Orange exposures and later development of nervous system degenerative diseases, and significantly higher rates and earlier onsets of dementia.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 14, 2024
He and his colleagues analyzed 1952-2011 temperature data and found the four seasons no longer occur equally and had irregular onsets.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 22, 2021
We used to call these “family words” when I was a kid: rat, bat, cat, mat, etc., all have the “-at” rime with different consonant onsets.
From Slate ● Nov. 29, 2018
Analyses of the passive playback experiments were the same as above, but the onsets and offsets of the sound sweeps were used as anchor points instead of the presses and the releases of the joystick.
From Nature ● Mar. 28, 2017
During the period of vigorous manhood, he had warded off its onsets by an extreme abstinence.
From Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius by Samuel Dill
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
