Onboard

Part of speech: adjective, adverb

Pronunciation: /ɑnˈbɔɹd/

Definitions

1. To be part of a team or initiative while embracing new ideas and integrating individuals into a collective effort
2. To participate in a project or system, often involving the acceptance of concepts and the incorporation of others into a cohesive group
3. To introduce and involve a person within a team or task ; to be placed or present within a ship, aircraft, or vehicle

Etymology: "Onboard" is a compound of "on" and "board," and the phrase "on board" came first. "Board" in this sense goes back to the wooden planks that formed a ship's side and deck, so to be "on board" was originally to be physically standing on a vessel. The phrase was used that way long before anyone thought of it as a single word. The shift to a figurative sense followed the nautical one: being on board a ship came to mean being part of an enterprise, and from there the idea of bringing someone into a team or project took hold. The compound form "onboard" is the newer step, formed by joining the phrase into one word, and it took on the same two senses the phrase already had, both the literal ship or vehicle sense and the sense of integrating a new person into an organization.

Synonyms: aboard