Outset

How to spell outset

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce outset

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does outset mean?

1. nounThe start or beginning of something, especially the very first stage of an activity or period.

Outset in a sentence

• From the outset, the project was underfunded and short of staff.

• She made her expectations clear at the outset of the negotiation.

Where does outset come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The word outset is a fairly transparent native English compound, formed simply by joining out with set, where set carries its old sense of placing or starting something in motion. It draws on the much older idea of setting out, meaning to begin a journey or to start forth on some course, where out signals movement away and set marks the act of going. The verb set itself comes from the Old English settan, meaning to make something sit or to place it, and out is among the oldest English words, traceable to the same Germanic roots as the German aus. Outset first appears as a noun in English in the eighteenth century, meaning the point at which something begins. Because it is built from two ordinary, familiar pieces, it rarely causes spelling trouble; the only thing to remember is that it is written as one solid word, not two.

How the word is built

• out- (forth, away)
• set (act of setting; from Old English settan, to place)