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# 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 →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/onset/#m1)

2) (language) The onset of a syllable is the consonant sound or sounds before the vowel, as «c» in «cat». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/onset/#m2)

### 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 →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/onset/#x1)
- Drink water at the onset of a fever. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/onset/#x2)
- The onset of the storm was sudden. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/onset/#x3)
- In «ship», the onset is «sh». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/onset/#x4)
- The game stopped at the onset of rain. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/onset/#x5)
- Watch for the onset of tiredness on long walks. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/onset/#x6)
- The onset of the illness was slow. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/onset/#x7)
- Split each word into onset and rime. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/onset/#x8)

### 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!](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/32-willows-ch2-part4-the-wreck-and-the-new-craze/25/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «onset» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/onset/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.