occasion
Americannoun
-
occasions
plural
-
a particular time, especially as marked by certain circumstances or occurrences.
They met on three occasions.
-
a special or important time, event, ceremony, celebration, etc..
His birthday will be quite an occasion.
-
a convenient or favorable time, opportunity, or juncture.
This slack period would be a good occasion to take inventory.
-
the immediate or incidental cause or reason for some action or result.
What is the occasion for this uproar?
- Synonyms:
- influence, inducement, motive
-
(in the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead) the coincidence of the eternal objects forming a specific point-event.
-
Obsolete. occasions,
-
needs or necessities.
-
necessary business matters.
to go about one's lawful occasions.
-
verb (used with object)
-
occasions,
present (3rd person singular)
-
occasioned,
past participle, past
-
occasioning
present participle
idioms
noun
-
(sometimes foll by of) the time of a particular happening or event
-
(sometimes foll by for) a reason or cause (to do or be something); grounds
there was no occasion to complain
-
an opportunity (to do something); chance
-
a special event, time, or celebration
the party was quite an occasion
-
every so often
-
to have the courage, wit, etc, to meet the special demands of a situation
-
to avail oneself of an opportunity (to do something)
verb
Synonym Usage
See cause.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
occasionsimple
-
occasionssimple
-
have occasionedperfect
-
has occasionedperfect
-
am occasioningprogressive
-
are occasioningprogressive
-
is occasioningprogressive
-
have been occasioningperfect progressive
-
has been occasioningperfect progressive
Past
-
occasionedsimple
-
had occasionedperfect
-
was occasioningprogressive
-
were occasioningprogressive
-
had been occasioningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of occasion
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English occasioun, from Old French occasion, from Latin occāsiōn-, stem of occāsiō, literally, “a falling out,” from occās(us) “fallen down” (past participle of occidere “to fall down, set,” from oc- oc- + -cidere, combining form of cadere “to fall”) + -iō -ion
Explanation
Occasion means something special––that happens seldom or is notable when it does. On occasion, we sit down together as a family, but not every day, and never for dinner. When Great Aunt Mabel visits, however, we rise to the occasion and stage a large family meal. Occasion can also mean a designated time or reason something happens, or it can be an event in itself. I'm giving you your grandmother's ring on the occasion of your graduation from high school. I haven't had occasion to look at it since she died. It's valuable, so only wear it on special occasions.
Vocabulary lists containing occasion
English Words Derived from French, List 1
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Introducing Rhetoric: Using the "Available Means" (Chapter 1)
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List 1
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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:
“May this journey be an occasion for us to open our hearts to one another,” the pope said ahead of his trip.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
The occasion was a momentous one for Yolanda, who turned 18 in May.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
My stepmother was sitting right there in her favorite green dress, which she wears to almost every family occasion.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
"This feels like a consumer who still wants the occasion, but is paying much closer attention to what goes into the basket."
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
She had a couple of matches she kept there for when she had to relight Mrs. Caruthers’s fireplace, on the rare occasion it went out.
From "Ophie's Ghosts" by Justina Ireland
On five occasions this century, there was a similar shift in the firm’s macro risk indicator from very bullish to neutral: 2000, 2007, 2010, 2015 and 2018.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 2026
On rare occasions, he met his son and parents, who are divorced, in other countries.
From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026
He led them from relegation trouble to qualification for the Champions League on two occasions and won the EFL Cup - the club's first trophy in 56 years - in 2025.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
Situated at the upper end of casual dining, the Cheesecake Factory, for many, has long qualified as a fancy restaurant, earmarked for special occasions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
These were always happy occasions for Ann and her children because they were given the old—but still wholesome—meat when her employers cleaned out the freezer to make room for the new beef.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
"The absence of our lawyers was occasioned by the state itself, not by ourselves," said Besigye.
From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026
Both patterns were probably occasioned by a mixture of motives.
From BBC ● Jun. 19, 2026
Mr. Trueman contends that the loss of belief in man’s sacredness, depending as it did on a belief in God, occasioned the descent into confusion we constantly regret, without knowing quite why.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026
Caesar, Hegel writes, was driven by “an unconscious impulse that occasioned the accomplishment of that for which the time was ripe.”
From Salon ● Mar. 28, 2026
The final vote occasioned great celebration among those who had worked so hard to bring it to fruition.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
Thursday’s D-Day anniversary — the 80th — is occasioning somber and anxious reflections about the fate of the Atlantic alliance.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 5, 2024
Land in and around Cal State Long Beach is the sacred ancestral home of the Tongvas’ divine founder and lawgiver, Chingishish, and ancient human remains have been discovered there over the years, occasioning ceremonial reburials.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 27, 2024
The court heard Sekanjako, who was born in Uganda, had a previous conviction for assault occasioning actual bodily harm from 2013.
From BBC ● Nov. 13, 2023
But if the ritual is rote and simple, the human stories occasioning it are the opposite.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 27, 2020
Theresa poked a finger in a soft spot of plaster, occasioning a moist avalanche.
From "Typical American" by Gish Jen
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