What is the difference between "advent" and "outset"?

Question

Oxford Learner's Dictionary defines advent as "the coming of an important event, person, invention, etc", whereas the same dictionary defines "outset" as "?at/from the beginning of something".

Both words seem to connote the meaning of the start or beginning of something.

Anyways, what is the differences between these two words?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

reptaxBoth words seem to connote the meaning of the start or beginning of something.

No. 'coming' and 'beginning' are different. 'coming' is like 'appearance (in the world for the first time)'. The beginning is more like the first part of something.

It's usually the advent of something like electricity or air travel, as a way of fixing something within historical time, and it's usually the outset of a process of some kind, like a project or a trip (literal or metaphoric).

"with the advent of" is a common expression.

With the advent of fracking, the oil rush into North Dakota has been relentless.
The advent of powerful desktop computers makes many tasks easy to accomplish.
The zenith of the pager came shortly before the advent of the mobile phone in the late 1990s.

"from the outset" and "at the outset" are the expressions in which you most often find the word "outset", and they are almost the only way that "outset" is used.

Especially at the outset of any branding project, stress clear and simple terms.
From the outset, slavery was the basis of the British Empire in the West Indies.
From the outset she dreamed of becoming the first woman to win an Indy Car race.

'advent' cannot be used instead of 'outset' nor 'outset' instead of 'advent' in any of the six examples above.

CJ

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