advent

[ ad-vent ]

noun

1. a coming into place, view, or being; arrival:

   the advent of the holiday season.

   Synonyms: start, commencement, beginning, onset

2. Usually Advent. the coming of Christ into the world.
3. Advent, the period beginning four Sundays before Christmas, observed in commemoration of the coming of Christ into the world.
4. Usually Advent. Second Coming.

advent

¹

/ ˈædvɛnt; -vənt /

noun

1. an arrival or coming, esp one which is awaited

Advent

²

/ -vənt; ˈædvɛnt /

noun

1. Christianity the season including the four Sundays preceding Christmas or (in Eastern Orthodox churches) the forty days preceding Christmas

Advent

1. The coming of Jesus , either in the Incarnation of biblical times or in the Second Coming at the end of the world. Also, a time observed in many Christian churches in December to prepare for Christmas .

Word History and Origins

Origin of advent¹

First recorded in 1125–75; Middle English, from Latin adventus “arrival, approach,” equivalent to ad- “toward” + ven- (stem of venīre “to come”) + -tus suffix of verbal action; ad-

Word History and Origins

Origin of advent¹

C12: from Latin adventus, from advenīre , from ad- to + venīre to come

Example Sentences

Like Lent, the season of Advent was a period of reflection and fasting, and items such as dairy and sugar were forbidden.

From The Daily Beast

I would venture to say that Advent is something America needs right now, religious or not.

From The Daily Beast

They told me that Advent was all about waiting and hoping – that they were indeed a community of waiting and hoping.

From The Daily Beast

Then came the horrors of World War I, with the advent of tanks and airplanes and poison gas.

From The Daily Beast

The writer A. Lezhnev said, “I view the incident with Shostakovich as the advent of the same ‘order’ that burns books in Germany.”

From The Daily Beast

But his eyes and ears were alert, and he was the first to hear the advent of a large body of horses along the main road.

From Project Gutenberg

These gorgeous tea-cups were never used but on high-days and holidays, or on the advent of any particular visitors.

From Project Gutenberg

It was not indispensable to the human race during the thousands (I say millions) of years before its advent.

From Project Gutenberg

One would think, to read the Christian apologists, that before the advent of Christianity the world had neither virtue nor wisdom.

From Project Gutenberg

The social position of the Chinese permitted to remain in the Islands has changed since the American advent.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• arrival
• coming
• onset