onto

[on-too, awn-; unstressed on-tuh, awn-]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR onto ON THESAURUS.COM

preposition

to a place or position on; upon; on: to get onto a horse.

Informal. in or into a state of awareness about: I'm onto your scheme.

adjective

Also surjective. Mathematics. pertaining to a function or map from one set to another set, the range of which is the entire second set.

Origin of onto

First recorded in 1575–85; on + to

Can be confusedon onto on to

onto-

a combining form meaning “being,” used in the formation of compound words: ontogeny.

Also especially before a vowel, ont-.

Origin of onto-

< New Latin < Greek ont- (stem of ón, neuter present participle of eînai to be) + -o- -o-

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for onto

adjacent, against, toward, above, on, over

Examples from the Web for onto

Contemporary Examples of onto

I was sick in street gutters, onto my desk, at dinners with friends.
I Tried to Warn You About Sleazy Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein in 2003
Vicky Ward
January 7, 2015
Army B-squad players who fail to make it onto the varsity team after a year or two usually quit football.
A West Point MVP Who Never Played a Down
Nicolaus Mills
December 13, 2014
Still others attempted to turn the focus away from Jackie onto the magazine that credulously told her story.
What the U-VA Rape Case Tells Us About a Victim Culture Gone Mad
Lizzie Crocker
December 6, 2014
But I say onto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
Keep Christmas Commercialized!
P. J. O’Rourke
December 6, 2014
To carry his voice forward, onto the streets of New York and D.C. and Chicago and elsewhere.
The Day I Used Eric Garner’s Voice
Joshua DuBois
December 5, 2014

Historical Examples of onto

He tossed them onto the table, and Hal Dozier rolled his smoke in silence.
Way of the Lawless
Max Brand
If you'd been onto your job, things would have been smooth as silk.
Chip, of the Flying U
B. M. Bower
But it must be something new, or we should have got onto it.
It Happened in Egypt
C. N. Williamson
With a word of farewell, he climbed out of the cockpit and onto a wing.
The Solar Magnet
Sterner St. Paul Meek
I can mention his name now without Ketury's landin' onto me like a snowslide.
Cy Whittaker's Place
Joseph C. Lincoln

British Dictionary definitions for onto

onto

on to

preposition

to a position that is onstep onto the train as it passes

having become aware of (something illicit or secret)the police are onto us

into contact withget onto the factory

usage

Onto is now generally accepted as a word in its own right. On to is still used, however, where on is considered to be part of the verb: he moved on to a different town as contrasted with he jumped onto the stage

onto-

combining form

existence or beingontogeny; ontology

Word Origin for onto-

from Late Greek, from ōn (stem ont-) being, present participle of einai to be

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for onto

prep.

1580s, as on to, from on + to. Appeared much later than parallel into. As a closed compound (on analogy of into), first recorded 1715.

onto-

word-forming element meaning "a being, individual; being, existence," from Greek onto-, from stem of on (genitive ontos) "being," neuter present participle of einai "to be" (see essence).

onto in Medicine

onto-

pref.

Organism; being:ontogeny.