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

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

The first incident prompted the Los Angeles Police Department to focus its resources on deterring and responding to these events.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 12, 2026

"I was in a serious incident maybe four months ago," he added.

From BBC • Apr. 11, 2026

Central Command said the destroyers operated in the Persian Gulf and departed as planned without incident.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 11, 2026

That tone carried through again here, as the incident became another example of how quickly false or mistaken reports can circulate and how quickly they can collapse under correction and context.

From Salon • Apr. 11, 2026

Not long after the incident with the SS boyfriend, Ilse manages to ask me how old I am.

From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron

Related Words

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