on
/ɒn/ adjective, adverb, preposition, verb, noun, proper noun
Forms ons oning onning oned onned ohn
- adjective In the state of being active, functioning or operating. “All the lights are on, so they must be home.”
- adjective Happening; taking place; being or due to be put into action. “We had to ration our food because there was a war on.”
- adjective (informal) 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). “"Five bucks says the Cavs win tonight." ―"You're on!"”
- adjective Fitted; covering or being worn. “Your feet will soon warm up once your socks are on.”
- adjective (postpositive) Of a stated part of something, oriented towards the viewer or other specified direction. “The photograph shows the UFO side on.”
- adjective (chiefly UK, informal, chiefly in the negative) Acceptable, appropriate. “It's not fair to do that – it's just not on.”
- adjective (chiefly in the negative) Possible; capable of being successfully carried out. “Climbing up that steep ridge isn't on. We'll have to find another route.”
- adjective (e.g. of points in a game) Available; remaining. “Smith is 25 points ahead with only 23 on.”
- adverb To an operating state. “turn the television on”
- adverb So as to cover or be fitted. “The lid wasn't screwed on properly.”
- adverb Along, forwards (continuing an action), onwards. “The policeman moved the tramp on.”
- adverb In continuation, at length. “and so on”
- adverb (infrequent in the US) Later. “Ten years on, nothing had changed in the village.”
- adverb Of betting odds, denoting a better-than-even chance. See also odds-on. “That horse is twenty-to-one on, so you need to stake twenty pounds just to win one pound.”
- adverb (snooker) Of a ball, into a pottable position. “The black was previously unavailable, but in potting that red, he's now pushed the black on.”
- preposition Positioned at the upper surface of, touching from above. “A vase of flowers stood on the table.”
- preposition Positioned at or resting against the outer surface of; attached to. “He had a scar on the side of his face.”
- preposition Covering. “He wore old shoes on his feet.”
- preposition At or in (a geographical location or position).
- preposition At (a relative spatial position).
Synonyms
on base leg after afterward afterwards later subsequently thence about by dint of in under with within over apropos as for due to turn on Heliopolis along
Antonyms
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”).
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”), German an (“at, in; on”), Luxembourgish un (“on; at, to”), Yiddish אָן (on, “on, onward”), Danish, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish å (“on”), Elfdalian ą̊ (“on”), Faroese and Icelandic á (“in; on”), Gothic 𐌰𐌽𐌰 (ana, “at, on”); also Umbrian 𐌀𐌌- (am-), 𐌀𐌍- (an-, “up, upon”), Ancient Greek ἀνά (aná, “on, upon”) (whence Greek ανά (aná, “by, through, per”)), Albanian në (“in; on”), Latvian no (“from; out of; for; of; with”), Lithuanian nuo (“from, off; for, of”), Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, and Ukrainian на (na, “on”), Czech, Polish, Slovak, and Slovene na (“on”), Serbo-Croatian на, na (“on”), Old Armenian ան- (an-, “at, on, unto”); and from Old Norse upp á: Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Swedish på (“on”), Norwegian Nynorsk paa, på (“on”), see upon.
From Old Norse ón, án (“without”), from Proto-Germanic *ēnu, *ēno, *ino (“without”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḗnu (“without”). Cognate with North Frisian on (“without”), Middle Dutch an, on (“without”), Middle Low German āne (“without”), German ohne (“without”), Gothic 𐌹𐌽𐌿 (inu, “without, except”).
Unlikely to be related to Ancient Greek ἄνευ (áneu, “without”), which is likely akin to Proto-Germanic *sundraz instead (whence sunder).
From Japanese 音読み (on'yomi, literally “sound reading”).
Webster’s 1913
- preposition The general signification of on is situation, motion, or condition with respect to contact or support beneath; as: --
- preposition At, or in contact with, the surface or upper part of a thing, and supported by it; placed or lying in contact with the surface; as, the book lies on the table, which stands on the floor of a house on an island.
- adverb Forward, in progression; onward; --usually with a verb of motion; as, move on; go on. "Time glides on." Macaulay.
- adverb Forward, in succession; as, from father to son, from the son to the grandson, and so on.
Etymology [OE. on, an, o, a, AS. on, an; akin to D. aan, OS. & G. an, OHG. ana, Icel. a, Sw. ana, Russ. na, L. an-, in anhelare to pant, Gr. ana. sq. root195. Cf. A-, 1, Ana-, Anon.]
Etymology [See On, prep.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “on”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details