occurrence

[ uh-kur-uhns, uh-kuhr- ]

See synonyms for: occurrence occurrences on Thesaurus.com

noun

the action, fact, or instance of occurring.
something that happens; event; incident: We were delayed by several unexpected occurrences.

Origin of occurrence

1530–40; <Latin occurrent-, stem of occurrēns (present participle of occurrere “to run up to, run to meet”), from oc- (variant of ob- ; see ob-) + currere “to run” + -ence; compare Medieval Latin occurrentia

synonym study For occurrence

2. See event.

Other words for occurrence

2	circumstance

See synonyms for occurrence on Thesaurus.com

Other words from occurrence

oc·cur·rent, adjective
pre·oc·cur·rence, noun
re·oc·cur·rence, noun

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

How to use occurrence in a sentence

Their inevitable divorce was messy, bitter, and packed with bizarre occurrences.
Borges Had A Genius For Literature But Not Love Or Much Else | Allen Barra | October 24, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Refinery management had normalized the occurrences of hazardous conditions.
Oil Tankers Leaking into Seattle’s Water | Bill Conroy | October 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Botched executions are neither freak occurrences nor unfortunate accidents.
Lethal Injection Leads to the Most Botched Executions | Austin Sarat, Robert Henry Weaver, Heather Richard | April 30, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Soon the town was flooded with Rwandans and foreigners eager to observe the supernatural occurrences.
Did the Virgin Mary Warn Rwanda’s Holiest Town of the Genocide? | Nina Strochlic | April 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
I heard that some strange occurrences went down while filming…is that true?
Neve Campbell on ‘Mad Men,’ ‘90s Nostalgia, and Why the ‘Scream’ Movie Franchise is Over | Marlow Stern | April 14, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST

Mr. D. Nasmith employed a clerk in finding the number of occurrences of the same word in three books.
Assimilative Memory | Marcus Dwight Larrowe (AKA Prof. A. Loisette)
When I was a young man, of course such things were frequent occurrences; but manners are changed now.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume II (of 3) | Charles James Wills
What events for importance are comparable to the occurrences connected with his sojourn on earth?
The Ordinance of Covenanting | John Cunningham
The disclosures thus made, immediately recalled certain similar occurrences in the same district during October/November 1952.
Report of the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents | Oswald Chettle Mazengarb et al.
This attitude of the scientific world toward these problematical occurrences is quite comprehensible.
Man And His Ancestor | Charles Morris

British Dictionary definitions for occurrence

occurrence

/ (əˈkʌrəns) /

noun

something that occurs; a happening; event
the act or an instance of occurring: a crime of frequent occurrence

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

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