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Onset vs Begin - What's the difference?

onset | begin |

As nouns the difference between onset and begin

is that onset is a rushing or setting upon; an attack; an assault; a storming; especially, the assault of an army while begin is (nonstandard) beginning; start.

As verbs the difference between onset and begin

is that onset is (obsolete) to assault; to set upon while begin is (ambitransitive) to start, to initiate or take the first step into something.

onset

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A rushing or setting upon; an attack; an assault; a storming; especially, the assault of an army.
  • * (rfdate) (William Shakespeare),
  • The onset and retire / Of both your armies.
  • * (rfdate) (William Wordsworth),
  • Who on that day the word of onset gave.
  • (medicine) The initial phase of a disease or condition, in which symptoms first become apparent.
  • (phonology) The initial portion of a syllable, preceding the syllable nucleus.
  • (acoustics) The beginning of a musical note or other sound, in which the amplitude rises from zero to an initial peak.
  • (obsolete) A setting about; a beginning.
  • * (rfdate) (Francis Bacon),
  • There is surely no greater wisdom than well to time the beginnings and onsets of things.
  • (obsolete) Anything set on, or added, as an ornament or as a useful appendage.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=28, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= High and wet , passage=Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale. The early, intense onset of the monsoon on June 14th swelled rivers, washing away roads, bridges, hotels and even whole villages. Rock-filled torrents smashed vehicles and homes, burying victims under rubble and sludge.}}
    (Shakespeare)
    (Johnson)

    Verb

  • (obsolete) To assault; to set upon.
  • (obsolete) To set about; to begin.
  • begin

    English

    (wikipedia begin)

    Verb

  • (ambitransitive) To start, to initiate or take the first step into something.
  • * (John Locke) (1632-1705)
  • The apostle begins our knowledge in the creatures, which leads us to the knowledge of God.
  • * (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
  • Ye nymphs of Solyma! begin the song.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.}}
  • * , chapter=5
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Of all the queer collections of humans outside of a crazy asylum, it seemed to me this sanitarium was the cup winner. […] When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=29, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Unspontaneous combustion , passage=Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia.}}
  • To commence existence.
  • * (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
  • Vast chain of being! which from God began .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (nonstandard) Beginning; start.
  • References

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