incident

American  

[in-si-duhnt] / ˈɪn sɪ dənt /

noun

incidents plural

1. an individual occurrence or event.

   Synonyms:

   happening

2. a distinct piece of action, or an episode, as in a story or play.

3. something that occurs casually in connection with something else.

4. something appertaining or attaching to something else.

5. an occurrence of seemingly minor importance, especially involving nations or factions between which relations are strained and sensitive, that can lead to serious consequences, as an outbreak of hostilities or a war.

   border incident; international incident.

6. an embarrassing occurrence, especially of a social nature.

---

adjective

1. likely or apt to happen (usually followed byto ).

2. naturally appertaining.

   hardships incident to the life of an explorer.

3. conjoined or attaching, especially as subordinate to a principal thing.

4. falling or striking on something, as light rays.

incident British  

/ ˈɪnsɪdənt /

noun

1. a distinct or definite occurrence; event

2. a minor, subsidiary, or related event or action

3. a relatively insignificant event that might have serious consequences, esp in international politics

4. a public disturbance

   the police had reports of an incident outside a pub

5. the occurrence of something interesting or exciting

   the trip was not without incident

---

adjective

1. related (to) or dependent (on)

2. having a subsidiary or minor relationship (with)

3. (esp of a beam of light or particles) arriving at or striking a surface

   incident electrons

Synonym Usage

See event.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonincident
  noun
• incidentless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• incidents
  plural

Etymology

Origin of incident

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Middle French, from Medieval Latin incident- (stem of incidēns “a happening,” noun use of present participle of Latin verb incidere “to fall upon, befall”), equivalent to Latin in- in- ² + -cid- (combining form of cad- “fall”) + -ent- -ent; see cadenza

Explanation

An incident refers to a particular happening, sometimes criminal but always noteworthy. If there was a food fight in the cafeteria, an e-mail might be sent to the parents of all students telling of the incident at school. The word incident is quite vague. It can refer to a humorous occurrence or a violent one, something that disturbed one's routine or something unusual that happened. If a child screams in a library, it's not that unusual, but if an adult does, that's an incident! As an adjective, incident is used in the field of physics to describe particles or radiation that fall on a surface. The incident light showed how dirty the windows were.

Example Sentences

"There are literally two options left," Incident Commander Craig Covey said.

From Barron's • May 23, 2026

It is unclear what damage has been caused by the fires, but Australia's Deputy Incident Controller Alistair Drayton, said he had "anecdotal evidence" that some homes had been lost.

From BBC • Jan. 27, 2026

The school said it is working closely with external agencies, including a Cyber Incident Response Team from the Department for Education, as well as IT experts from the trust.

From BBC • Jan. 5, 2026

On Halloween, Patel also fired Steven Palmer, a 27-year agent who ran the FBI’s Critical Incident Response Group, the unit that responds to high-risk situations like child abductions and hostages.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 12, 2025

I could only think of the Hillpark Gym Graffiti Incident.

From "Made You Up" by Francesca Zappia

Related Words

• circumstance
• episode
• event
• fact
• matter
• scene