The outset is the very beginning of something — a job, a trip, a plan, a war. Though actually, English almost never uses the word by itself. People say at the outset or from the outset, and those two phrases do nearly all the work. At the outset means when it started, as we began. From the outset means right from the first moment, and still true now. It is a little more formal than at the start. You will see it in speeches, news, and school essays more than in chat. The word is not about setting things outdoors.