Onto Meaning
/ˈɒn.tuː/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
prepArriving upon or on top of (speaking of a physical or metaphorical movement).
prepAware of.
Sentence Examples
She shone her torch onto the floor before us.
As the door slid open, he almost fell onto the platform.
Move the books onto the second shelf.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The cat jumped ____ the table to reach the fish placed on a plate.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The cat leaped ____ the roof and disappeared behind the chimney before anyone could catch it.
Word Origin & History
From on + to, after into. Compare Saterland Frisian antou (“up to”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster."
— 2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70:
"That original list of 2,315 solutions was embedded in the game’s code. That means the game was playable offline and could be downloaded onto phones or computers. The solutions to the original Wordle game were predetermined through October 20, 2027. The New York Times (NYT) hasn’t said if it plans to make any more changes or additions to that initial list."
— 2022 February 15, David Goldman, “Why your Wordle answers might now be different than your friends’”, in CNN Business:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The cat jumped ____ the table to reach the fish placed on a plate.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The cat leaped ____ the roof and disappeared behind the chimney before anyone could catch it.