Is someone ‘onboard’ a ship or ‘on board’? And what’s the difference between the two? We’ll cover that in this article, plus teach you how to use the correct version in a sentence.
Not a fan of long answers? Here’s the short one.
As you just learned, the difference between ‘onboard’ and ‘on board’ is pretty significant.
‘Onboard’ is an adjective that means attached. It’s also a verb that means to acclimate new hires to a company.
‘On Board’ is an adverb or prepositional phrase, and it means safely aboard a vessel or in agreement.
Therefore, you need to be careful about how you use both terms since they don’t mean the same thing. They’re essentially homophones.
Only use ‘onboard’ when you’re trying to say ‘attached’ or ‘to acclimate new hires to a company.’
Use ‘on board’ when you’re referring to being safely onboard a vessel or in agreement.
The Merriam-Webster definition of ‘onboard’ is: “carried within or occurring aboard a vehicle (such as a satellite or an automobile).”
The Merriam-Webster definition of ‘on board’ is: “a piece of sawed lumber of little thickness and a length greatly exceeding its width,” “a surface, frame, or device for posting notices,” “blackboard,” “a flat usually rectangular piece of material (such as wood) designed for a special purpose: such as 1) surfboard, 2) skateboard, 3) springboard 4) boards,” “basketball: backboard,” “switchboard,” “a group of persons having managerial, supervisory, investigatory, or advisory powers,” and “an exposed dummy hand in bridge.”
Other definitions are: “to go aboard (something, such as a ship, train, airplane, or bus),” “to put aboard,” and “to cover or seal off with a long, thin, and often narrow piece of sawed lumber: to cover or seal off with boards > usually used with up."
Synonyms of the word include:
Now that you know how to tell the difference between ‘onboard’ and ‘on board,’ let’s talk about how to use them in a sentence correctly.
Now that you know what ‘onboard’ and ‘on board’ mean, you know that they can’t be used interchangeably. You also know how to use them in a sentence correctly, thanks to the above examples. Use them as a guide when crafting your own sentences.
If you ever get stuck, you can always come back here and double-check. We’ve got a whole library of content dedicated to explaining confusing words and phrases in the English language.
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