ONSET

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does onset mean? 

• ONSET (noun)
  The noun ONSET has 2 senses:

1. the beginning or early stages

2. (military) an offensive against an enemy (using weapons)

  Familiarity information: ONSET used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ONSET (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The beginning or early stages

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

oncoming; onset

Context example:

the onset of pneumonia

Hypernyms ("onset" is a kind of...):

start (the beginning of anything)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(military) an offensive against an enemy (using weapons)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

attack; onrush; onset; onslaught

Context example:

the attack began at dawn

Hypernyms ("onset" is a kind of...):

military operation; operation (activity by a military or naval force (as a maneuver or campaign))

Meronyms (parts of "onset"):

assault (close fighting during the culmination of a military attack)

Domain category:

armed forces; armed services; military; military machine; war machine (the military forces of a nation)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "onset"):

ground attack (an attack by ground troops)

charge (an impetuous rush toward someone or something)

banzai attack; banzai charge (a mass attack of troops without concern for casualties; originated by Japanese who accompanied it with yells of 'banzai')

diversion; diversionary attack (an attack calculated to draw enemy defense away from the point of the principal attack)

incursion; penetration (an attack that penetrates into enemy territory)

blitz; blitzkrieg (a swift and violent military offensive with intensive aerial bombardment)

strike (an attack that is intended to seize or inflict damage on or destroy an objective)

counterattack; countermove (an attack by a defending force against an attacking enemy force in order to regain lost ground or cut off enemy advance units etc.)

bombardment; bombing (an attack by dropping bombs)

fire; firing (the act of firing weapons or artillery at an enemy)

strafe (an attack of machine-gun fire or cannon fire from a low flying airplane)

coup de main; surprise attack (an attack without warning)

 Context examples 

Chew and colleagues investigated the relationship between calcium intake, by diet and/or supplements, and AMD onset, or its progression.

(No evidence that calcium increases risk of age-related macular degeneration, National Institutes of Health)

This renewed weather activity, considered overdue by researchers, could finally signal the onset of summer storms that atmospheric models have long predicted.

(Cassini tracks clouds developing over a Titan sea, NASA)

The team found that the observed brightness of the galaxy is well-explained by a model where the onset of star formation corresponds to only 250 million years after the Universe began.

(ALMA and VLT Find Evidence for Stars Forming Just 250 Million Years After Big Bang, ESO)

The MME gene is also associated with susceptibility to late-onset Alzheimer's disease.

(MME wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

The cyclin B-p34(cdc2) kinase (CDK1) has been shown to phosphorylate PKA-RIIa on T54 and this has been proposed to alter the subcellular localization of PKA-RIIa at the onset of mitosis.

(Centrosome Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

They found that upregulation of complement expression and activation coincided with the onset of photoreceptor degeneration.

(Immune system can slow degenerative eye disease, National Institutes of Health)

The onset of symptoms may be rapid with severity proportional to length and amount of nicotine use.

(Nicotine Withdrawal, NCI Thesaurus)

Many of these babies had a family history of SCID and were diagnosed before the onset of infections.

(Early treatment benefits infants with severe combined immunodeficiency, NIH)

In these two distinct ways, oleuropein helps prevent the onset of disease.

(Health Benefits of Olives and Olive Oil, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The RML group also tested the ASOs against established prion disease, treating mice 17 weeks after they were infected with scrapie – near the onset of clinical signs.

(Experimental treatment slows prion disease, extends life of mice, National Institutes of Health)