outset

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out·set

(out′sĕt′)

The initial stage of something; the beginning: Problems arose at the very outset.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

outset

(ˈaʊtˌsɛt)

a start; beginning (esp in the phrase from (or at) the outset)

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

out•set

(ˈaʊtˌsɛt)

n.

beginning; start.

[1530–40]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun

outset - the time at which something is supposed to begin; "they got an early start"; "she knew from the get-go that he was the man for her"

commencement, get-go, offset, showtime, starting time, beginning, start, kickoff, first

birth - the time when something begins (especially life); "they divorced after the birth of the child"; "his election signaled the birth of a new age"

incipience, incipiency - beginning to exist or to be apparent; "he placed the incipience of democratic faith at around 1850"; "it is designed to arrest monopolies in their incipiency"

point in time, point - an instant of time; "at that point I had to leave"

starting point, terminus a quo - earliest limiting point

threshold - the starting point for a new state or experience; "on the threshold of manhood"

outset

noun beginning, start, opening, early days, starting point, onset, inauguration, inception, commencement, kickoff (informal) Decide at the outset what kind of learning programme will suit you best.
end, finish, conclusion, closing, completion, finale, termination, consummation

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

outset

noun

The initial stage of a developmental process:

beginning, birth, commencement, dawn, genesis, inception, nascence, nascency, onset, opening, origin, spring, start.

Translations

بَدْء، مُسْتَهَل، بِدايَةمُستَهلّ

začátek

begyndelse

alku

početak

upphaf, byrjun

inizio principio

最初

시작

sākums

začetek

början

การเริ่มต้น

başlangıç

sự bắt đầu

开端开始

outset

[ˈaʊtset] N → principio m, comienzo m
at the outset → al principio or comienzo
from the outset → desde el principio or comienzo

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

outset

[ˈaʊtsɛt] n → début m
at the outset → au début
from the outset → dès le début

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

outset

[ˈaʊtˌsɛt] n at the outset → all'inizio

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

outset

(ˈautset) noun

the beginning of something. We have to get quite clear from the outset what our policy is.

outset

→ مُستَهلّ začátek begyndelse Anfang έναρξη comienzo alku départ početak inizio 最初 시작 begin innledning początek início начало början การเริ่มต้น başlangıç sự bắt đầu 开端

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References in classic literature ?

returning to his letter, she was disappointed at the outset.

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It was some relief to me to discover this Note, and to be satisfied at the outset that the Story of the Trial was, in every particular, fully and truly given.

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Whatever help you can give me at the outset in blindfolding that woman's sharp eyes will be the most precious help I have ever received at your hands.

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At the very outset, however, he seemed to master the bowling, and soon fetched about ten runs in a classic manner.

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My cousin and I were separated at the outset. I never saw him when we forded the river; when we planted the English flag in the first breach; when we crossed the ditch beyond; and, fighting every inch of our way, entered the town.

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Several general characteristics of Elizabethan literature and writers should be indicated at the outset. 1.

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But the directions he had given us about keeping a yellow warehouse on our starboard hand till we opened a white church to the larboard, and then keeping that on the larboard hand till we made a corner three points to the starboard, and that done, then ask the first man we met where the place was: these crooked directions of his very much puzzled us at first, especially as, at the outset, Queequeg insisted that the yellow warehouse --our first point of departure --must be left on the larboard hand, whereas I had understood Peter Coffin to say it was on the starboard.

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The low levels of most of the Saharan Sanatoria are against them except at the outset of the disease.

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At the outset, in order not to give the balloon too ponderous dimensions, he had decided to fill it with hydrogen gas, which is fourteen and a half times lighter than common air.

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Astor on this heterogeneous crew, and which had been so confidently promised in the buoyant moments of preparation, was doomed to meet with a check at the very outset.

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But scarcely did he find himself upon the open plain, when a terrible thought struck him, one all but enough to make him abandon the enterprise at the very outset. It occurred to him that he had not been dubbed a knight, and that according to the law of chivalry he neither could nor ought to bear arms against any knight; and that even if he had been, still he ought, as a novice knight, to wear white armour, without a device upon the shield until by his prowess he had earned one.

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The number of which this branch of the legislature is to consist, at the outset of the government, will be sixtyfive.