occidental

[ ok-si-den-tl ]

/ ˌɒk sɪˈdɛn tl /

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adjective

(usually initial capital letter) of, relating to, or characteristic of the Occident or its natives and inhabitants.

western.

noun

(usually initial capital letter) a native or inhabitant of the Occident.

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of occidental

1350–1400; Middle English <Latin occidentālis western, equivalent to occident- Occident + -ālis -al¹

OTHER WORDS FROM occidental

oc·ci·den·tal·i·ty, nounoc·ci·den·tal·ly, adverbnon·oc·ci·den·tal, adjectivenon·oc·ci·den·tal·ly, adverb

pseu·do·oc·ci·den·tal, adjectiveun·oc·ci·den·tal, adjectiveun·oc·ci·den·tal·ly, adverb

Words nearby occidental

occasional licence, occasionally, occasional table, occasions, Occident, occidental, Occidentalism, Occidentalize, occipital, occipital bone, occipital condyle

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use occidental in a sentence

The more violent aspect of the anti-apartheid movement was, safe to say, largely lost on Occidental College protestors.
How Obama's Shallow Worldview Failed Us|Stuart Stevens|August 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
“My first act of political activism was when I was at Occidental College,” he said in Senegal, on his 2013 trip to Africa.
How Obama's Shallow Worldview Failed Us|Stuart Stevens|August 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Barry ultimately left the Choom Gang for Occidental College and then, in his junior year, transferred to Columbia in New York.
David Maraniss’s Biography Spills on Obama’s Pot-Smoking & More|Matthew DeLuca, Caitlin Dickson|May 25, 2012|DAILY BEAST
In the summer of 1982, Obama was in a long-distance relationship with a former Occidental College classmate named Alex McNear.
David Maraniss’s ‘Barack Obama: The Story’ Excerpted in Vanity Fair: Juiciest Bits|Ben Jacobs|May 2, 2012|DAILY BEAST

He is now a diplomacy and world affairs professor at Occidental College in Los Angeles.
Reboot America!|The Daily Beast|July 19, 2010|DAILY BEAST
My sole object has been to show Japan as she is, and to claim Occidental sympathy to such a degree as she may deserve.
A Fantasy of Far Japan|Baron Kencho Suyematsu
It must be remembered that these few Armenians were the only women with whom we could talk and laugh in Occidental fashion.
War in the Garden of Eden|Kermit Roosevelt
An Occidental father and an Oriental head of a family are no longer really correlative terms.
The Soul of the Far East|Percival Lowell
The oldest of beast-tales available for occidental children is the story of Reynard the Fox.
Literature in the Elementary School|Porter Lander MacClintock
To the Occidental stranger such a gathering suggests some social loadstone; but none exists.
The Soul of the Far East|Percival Lowell

British Dictionary definitions for occidental (1 of 2)

occidental

/ (ˌɒksɪˈdɛntəl) /

adjective

a literary or formal word for western Compare oriental

British Dictionary definitions for occidental (2 of 2)

Occidental

/ (ˌɒksɪˈdɛntəl) sometimes not capital /

adjective

of or relating to the Occident

noun

an inhabitant, esp a native, of the Occident

Derived forms of Occidental

Occidentalism, nounOccidentalist, noun, adjectiveOccidentally, adverb

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