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.

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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

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

See Examples For:

incident incidents

It is the first time the mail carrier has been identified since the Aug. 18 incident.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2026

In the days after the incident, Australian authorities confirmed they were looking into the man's links to Australia.

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

At the time of the incident, he was off-duty and alone.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2026

Emergency services are responding to a "serious incident" at the tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park.

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

We’ll say nothing more of this little incident, he’d said.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

He still had flashbacks about incidents in his childhood.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026

One of the most high-profile such incidents was in October last year, when France's crown jewels were stolen in broad daylight from the Louvre in Paris.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026

It has a survey open which has received 70 responses and identified 16 different UK airports where people have reported negative stoma-related incidents.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

Since the attack, German authorities and advocacy groups have reported a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents across the country.

From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026

A few house-lights were going on again down the street, whether from the incidents just passed, or because of the abnormal silence following the fight, Montag did not know.

From "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury

Related Words

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