Dictionary
on•set
Pronunciation: (on'set", ôn'-), [key]—
n.
1. a beginning or start:
the onset of winter.
2. an assault or attack:
an onset of the enemy.
3. Phonet.the segment of a syllable preceding the nucleus, as the
gr in
great. Cf.
coda (def. 5),
core (def. 14).
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.