Dictionaries › English

on

Pronunciation: /ɒn/

The English word “on” has 20 meanings listed here.

adjective

  1. In the state of being active, functioning or operating.
  2. Happening; taking place; being or due to be put into action.
  3. Of a person, used to express agreement to or acceptance of a proposal or challenge made by that person; most commonly with subject “you” (see you're on).
  4. Fitted; covering or being worn.
  5. Of a stated part of something, oriented towards the viewer or other specified direction.
  6. Acceptable, appropriate.
  7. Possible; capable of being successfully carried out.
  8. Available; remaining.
  9. Having reached a base as a runner and being positioned there, awaiting further action from a subsequent batter.
  10. Within the half of the field on the same side as the batsman's legs; the left side for a right-handed batsman.
  11. Of a ball, being the next in sequence to be potted, according to the rules of the game.
  12. Acting in character.
  13. Performative or funny in a wearying manner.
  14. Menstruating.

adverb

  1. To an operating state.
  2. So as to cover or be fitted.
  3. Along, forwards (continuing an action), onwards.
  4. In continuation, at length.
  5. Later.
  6. Of betting odds, denoting a better-than-even chance. See also odds-on.

Etymology

From Middle English on, from Old English on, an (“on, upon, onto, in, into”), from Proto-West Germanic *ana, from Proto-Germanic *ana (“on, at”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂en- (“on, onto”). Cognates Cognate with Yola a, an, ana, on (“on”), Saterland Frisian an (“on; at”), West Frisian oan (“on; to, towards”), Cimbrian aan, å (“on, onto”), Dutch aan (“on; at”), Low German an (“on; at, to”),…

Keep exploring: in the interactive dictionary every word of a definition is a link. Open “on” there

More English words

About this dictionary

The English dictionary on Glottosphere has 650,529 entries with a page. Browse the English dictionary.

Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.