event
Americannoun
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something that happens or is regarded as happening; an occurrence, especially one of some importance.
- Synonyms:
- circumstance, case, affair, happening
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the outcome, issue, or result of anything.
The venture had no successful event.
- Synonyms:
- consequence
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something that occurs in a certain place during a particular interval of time.
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Physics. in relativity, an occurrence that is sharply localized at a single point in space and instant of time.
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Sports. any of the contests in a program made up of one sport or of a number of sports.
The broad jump event followed the pole vault.
idioms
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in the event of, if there should be.
In the event of rain, the party will be held indoors.
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in any event, regardless of what happens; in any case. Also at all events.
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in the event that, if it should happen that; in case.
In the event that I can't come back by seven, you can eat without me.
noun
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anything that takes place or happens, esp something important; happening; incident
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the actual or final outcome; result (esp in the phrases in the event, after the event )
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any one contest in a programme of sporting or other contests
the high jump is his event
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philosophy
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an occurrence regarded as a bare instant of space-time as contrasted with an object which fills space and has endurance
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an occurrence regarded in isolation from, or contrasted with, human agency Compare act
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regardless of circumstances; in any case
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in case of; if (such a thing) happens
in the event of rain the race will be cancelled
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if it should happen that
verb
Synonym Usage
Event, episode, incident, occurrence are terms for a happening. An event is usually an important happening: historical events. An episode is one of a series of happenings in a person's life or in a narrative: an episode in one's life. An incident is an event of usually minor importance: an amusing incident in a play. An occurrence is something that happens, often by surprise: His arrival was an unexpected occurrence.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of event
First recorded in 1560–70; from Latin ēventus “occurrence, outcome,” equivalent to ēven(īre) “to come out, fall out, occur” + -tus suffix of verbal action
Explanation
An event is something that happens, or might happen. In the event that you get stuck in traffic, the wedding will continue. It is too important an event to wait even for someone as important as you. When something is eventful, many things happen during it. In a detective story, a protagonist can protect himself by mailing an envelope to the police to be opened "in the event of his death." In the novel White Noise, Don DeLillo describes an Airborne Toxic Event, both predicting and mocking the disasters of our time.
Vocabulary lists containing event
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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TEKS ELAR Academic Vocabulary List (5th-7th grades)
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Common Five-letter Words for Wordle, List 5
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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.
See Examples For:
China’s data docket is light, with Monday’s loan prime-rate announcement the sole major event of note.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
Ten minutes later, CEO Elon Musk confirmed the mission was postponed, following an announcement during a livestream of the event that it had been cut short.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026
Jose Gonzalez, owner of Jagarhaus, a gallery and event space that has been in the neighborhood for six years, supports most of the city’s proposed improvements.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
But no matter what happens in the World Cup final, the biggest sporting event on the planet has already produced a winner—and it’s neither European nor Messi.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
The Greenbrier also became the place where the government would keep the US Congress safe in the event of a nuclear Armageddon.
From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson
After a year-long renovation, the Denair, Calif., home has a huge kitchen with space for the commercial meat slicer that Victor uses to cut a leg of prosciutto at family events.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
It is the first time the artefact, which depicts events leading up to the Battle of Hastings and Norman Conquest of England in 1066, has returned to the UK in more than 900 years.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
You don’t need to refer to prior events to justify how much you step forward or not.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026
These events unfold extremely quickly on cosmic timescales, sometimes lasting only days or weeks.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 16, 2026
The teacher drones on about upcoming school events practically the whole twenty minutes.
From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko
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.
