incident

American  

[in-si-duhnt] / ˈɪn sɪ dənt /

noun

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.

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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

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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

Related Words

See event.

Other Word Forms

• incidentless adjective
• nonincident noun

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; cadenza

Example Sentences

The vehicle, which police are treating as linked to the incident, has been recovered for forensic testing.

From BBC

And compared to previous incidents, the US response to the latest spat "has been muted so far, which may embolden China", said Lin and Govella.

From BBC

"The BCA is committed to thorough, independent and transparent investigations of these incidents, even if hampered by a lack of access to key information and evidence," it said in a statement.

From BBC

All of the incidents led World Curling to clarify that double-tapping is not allowed.

From BBC

Those incidents came after formula maker ByHeart recalled all of its products in the U.S. last fall after they were linked to a multistate botulism outbreak.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

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