onset
Americannoun
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onsets
plural
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a beginning or start.
the onset of winter.
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an assault or attack.
an onset of the enemy.
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Phonetics. the segment of a syllable preceding the nucleus, as the gr in great.
noun
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an attack; assault
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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
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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:
As a child, I played baseball before the onset of Little League.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
But it’s eminently plausible that the sudden onset of a winter storm, with low temperatures and cold precipitation, transformed a modest hike into a punishing ordeal for which the two men were unprepared.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
From 2022 to 2025, for instance, productivity rose by an average annual rate of 2.4%, compared to a 1.4% rate in the five years before the 2020 onset of the pandemic.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 23, 2026
Authorities warned against hiking this route this time of year due to deteriorating conditions and the onset of winter weather.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026
Everyone must have been dreading the onset of another harsh winter—especially now that Marina’s aviators had to work to keep the planes ready for combat every day.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
“Following each meal, my entire family experienced acute onsets with violent vomiting, watery diarrhea, and profound weakness.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
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
The first onsets of the Barbarians have failed, but nothing is decided.”
From A Victor of Salamis by William Stearns Davis
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
