Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use oncoming in a sentence

23 example sentences · noun, adjective

Oncoming means approach, onset. Example: “Look carefully before pulling out into oncoming traffic.”

Examples of oncoming by meaning

nounApproach, onset.

  • Some man that wayfaring was stood by housedoor at night's oncoming.1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 14: Oxen of the Sun]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey]...

adjectiveApproaching; coming closer.

  • Look carefully before pulling out into oncoming traffic.
  • A bitter easterly breeze blew with a threat of oncoming winter.1937, J. R. R. Tolkien, chapter 13, in The Hobbit, Ballantine, published 1982, page 242
  • Because it had not taken place immediately, the oncoming fight would lack spontaneity; it would be calculated, uninspired, and deadly.1970, Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye, New York: Vintage, published 2007, page 40

More sentences with oncoming

  • A vehicle crashed through the central reservation into the path of oncoming traffic.From the entry reservation
  • We waved a flag to warn the oncoming traffic about the accident.From the entry warn
  • He laid down his brand-new Harley-Davidson to avoid the oncoming bus.From the entry lay down
  • Dip your lights as you meet an oncoming car.From the entry dip
  • Turn off your high-beams - you're blinding the oncoming traffic.From the entry high-beam
  • The car raced full-bore into oncoming traffic.From the entry full-bore
  • If you have a collision with a vehicle oncoming from the right, after having run priority to the right, you are at fault.From the entry run
  • Amidst the clomps of oncoming horses, he could now hear men's low, conferring voices.2012 January, Frank Leslie, chapter 6, in The Last Ride of Jed Strange, Signet, New American Library, →ISBN. From the entry clomp
  • The Yukon slammed into the jersey wall separating them from oncoming traffic.2010, H. Adrian Sexton, Altared Ego, →ISBN, page 319. From the entry jersey wall
  • The oncoming horde berserked through the mine field, York field pieces going off in all directions.1959, Francis Leary, “Rene and Marguerite d’Anjou: the tragic geste”, in The Golden Longing, London: John Murray […], published 1960, page…. From the entry berserk
  • She struggled valiantly, but she could withstand its oncoming no longer.1922, Everett MacDonald, Slimtonian Socker. From the entry hauntsome
  • An oncoming tree limb hooks his knees and he swings up and around as his horse races on unridered.2016, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Hail Caesar!. From the entry unridered
  • An advertising poster on a transit shelter makes a better door than a window, when trying to spot oncoming traffic.2014 November 5, Jack Lakey, “Advertising poster blocks drivers' view”, in Toronto Star, Canada, retrieved 18 Jul 2015. From the entry make a better door than a window
  • Again I employ the psychic whizbangery and hop into the head of the nearest oncoming car— hello, Mrs.2014, John Hornor Jacobs, The Shibboleth. From the entry whizbangery
  • Although traffic is advised not to carry out U-turn manoeuvres at a mini-roundabout, be alert for any oncoming traffic doing so.2008, Driving Standards Agency (Great Britain), The Official DSA Guide to Driving Buses and Coaches, page 296. From the entry mini-roundabout
  • Hiei now loomed into the action, causing the leading U.S. destroyers to scatter before the oncoming behemoth lest they be run down.2021 March 10, Drachinifel, 14:35 from the start, in Guadalcanal Campaign - The Big Night Battle: Night 1 (IJN 3(?) : 2 USN), archived…. From the entry behemoth
  • There’s no pedestrian lane along the road and the grassy shoulder is slow-going, so move quickly and walk on the left toward oncoming traffic.2014, Scott E. Brown, Hiking Maryland: A Guide for Hikers & Photographers, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books, →ISBN, page 45. From the entry pedestrian lane
  • This stance refers to the position of the attacker's body—one foot is toward the defender and the other foot toward the oncoming ball.2006, James W. Lennox, Janet Rayfield, Bill Steffen, Soccer Skills and Drills, page 28. From the entry sideways-on
  • As the Yeh-Ho armies approached Swatow, peasants briefly captured two other county seats, Ch’ao-yang and Chieh-yang, but there was very little coordination between the local forces and the oncoming troops.1984 [1983], C. Martin Wilbur, The Nationalist Revolution in China, 1923-1928, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 155. From the entry county seat

Meaning of oncoming

  1. noun Approach, onset.
  2. adjective Approaching; coming closer.

Full definition of oncoming

Questions about oncoming in a sentence

How do you use oncoming in a sentence?
Oncoming is used as a noun and adjective. For example: “Look carefully before pulling out into oncoming traffic.”
What is a short sentence with oncoming?
“The car raced full-bore into oncoming traffic.”
What does oncoming mean?
Oncoming means approach, onset.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: oncoming (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use oncoming in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/oncoming. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.