advent

American  

[ad-vent] / ˈæd vɛnt /

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.

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advent ¹ British  

/ ˈædvɛnt, -vənt /

noun

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

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Advent ² British  

/ -vənt, ˈædvɛnt /

noun

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

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Advent Cultural  

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.

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Usage

What is Advent season? Advent is the season before Christmas. In many branches of Christianity, Advent consists of the period starting four Sundays before Christmas.Among Christians, Advent is typically considered a season of preparation for the celebration of Christmas that also commemorates the coming of Jesus. The word Advent can also refer to the coming of Jesus into the world (it can also refer to what’s known as Jesus’s Second Coming).Religious rituals for Advent include the lighting of candles on an Advent wreath and the decoration of Jesse trees.Although Christmas is widely celebrated in both religious and secular (nonreligious) ways, Advent is primarily a religious observance. However, Advent calendars are a popular way of marking the days until Christmas even for those who do not celebrate it in religious ways.The similar season observed in anticipation of Easter is known as Lent.

Etymology

Origin of advent

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-

Example Sentences

With the advent of social media there are many more ways to spread information than there were in 1980.

From Literature

Today, Sondheim ranks as the most influential figure in musical theater since the advent of Rodgers and Hammerstein.

From The Wall Street Journal

“We see this as the emergence of an investment supercycle that parallels other multi-decade cycles such as globalization or the advent of the Internet.”

From Barron's

He ranks it alongside the advent of the railroad in terms of its impact and sees a clear two-year runway of insatiable demand for tokens and for compute power.

From MarketWatch

For a time, the most exciting development in the field was the advent of light shows in which hundreds of preprogrammed drones created animations or formed corporate logos in the skies above major events.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• arrival
• coming
• onset