onset

«onset» in Mova's school dictionary: its start, especially of something bad or unpleasant — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (the onset, onsets)

meaning for a pupil

1) The onset of something is its start, especially of something bad or unpleasant. tree →

2) (language) The onset of a syllable is the consonant sound or sounds before the vowel, as «c» in «cat». tree →

sense in the lessons

It is used about illness, weather and seasons: «the onset of winter», «the onset of a cold». In reading and phonics lessons pupils split words into onset and rime (c-at, str-ing). In stories it marks when trouble begins.

examples

• With the onset of winter, the birds flew south. tree →
• Drink water at the onset of a fever. tree →
• The onset of the storm was sudden. tree →
• In «ship», the onset is «sh». tree →
• The game stopped at the onset of rain. tree →
• Watch for the onset of tiredness on long walks. tree →
• The onset of the illness was slow. tree →
• Split each word into onset and rime. tree →

note

Usually singular with «the»: «the onset of». Stress on ON-. Do not confuse with «outset» (the very start of any activity, often neutral: «at the outset»). «Onset» is mostly for things that happen to you, like illness or weather.

In the corpora

• Toad: «What carts I shall fling carelessly into the ditch in the wake of my magnificent onset!

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «onset» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.