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Understanding the etymology of onus shouldn’t be a burden; it’s as simple as knowing that English borrowed the word—spelling, meaning, and all—from Latin in the 17th century. Onus is also a distant relative of the Sanskrit word anas, meaning cart (as in, a wheeled wagon or vehicle that carries a burden). English isn’t exactly loaded with words that come from Latin onus, but onerous (“difficult and unpleasant to do or deal with”) is one, which is fitting since in addition to being synonymous with “burden,” onus has also long been used to refer to obligations and responsibilities that one may find annoying, taxing, disagreeable, or distasteful.
Synonyms
Examples of onus in a Sentence
Consumer Reports, May 2000
These laws got the regulatory ball rolling, but the onus was on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure that additives were safe.
—Amy Rosenbaum Clark, Vegetarian Times, March 1995
It is not the scions of Yale and Harvard who apply to become FBI agents and construction workers and civil servants and cops who bear the onus of this reverse discrimination.
—Thomas B. Edsall, Washington Post, 9-15 Mar. 1992
hoping to avoid the onus of failure by lowering expectations ahead of time
he perpetually tries to shift the onus for any mistakes onto other team members
Cody Copeland, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 25 June 2024
Johns Hopkins’ inability to consistently produce on faceoffs put the onus on Ierlan and the defense to stop the Wolverines and get the ball to the offense.
—Edward Lee, Baltimore Sun, 30 Mar. 2024
The onus would be on governments and the private sector, and almost as important as the civil and individual responsibility of critical thinking and questioning the apparently obvious.
—Sasha Rogelberg, Fortune, 18 June 2024
Mendoza put the onus on the coaching staff to help the team get past this dismal stretch of play.
—Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News, 14 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for onus 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'onus.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near onus
Cite this Entry
“Onus.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/onus. Accessed 15 Jul. 2024.
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