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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.

advent 1 British  
/ ˈædvɛnt, -vənt /

noun

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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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.

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

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

While not pink in colour, the name of the April full Moon harks back to ancient traditions before the advent of the modern calendar.

From BBC • Apr. 2, 2026

Its advent signals that the orchestration layer commanded by agentic systems is maturing faster than expected.

From Barron's • Mar. 30, 2026

Yet he sees the uncertainty over software’s future, and the advent of AI agents, as a chance to re-evaluate how it is priced.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 23, 2026

Fund managers are becoming less enthusiastic and increased their holdings in cash by the fastest rate since the advent of the pandemic in March 2020, a new survey released Tuesday found.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 17, 2026

In the 1970s Robert Carneiro, of the American Museum of Natural History, estimated the labor required to clear a field before the advent of steel.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.