phenomena
Americannoun
noun
Usage
As with other plurals of Latin or Greek origin, like media and criteria, there is a tendency to use the plural phenomena as a singular ( This phenomena will not be seen again ), but such use occurs infrequently in edited writing. The plural form phenomenas, though occasionally seen, has even less currency.
Etymology
Origin of phenomena
First recorded in 1580–90 with spelling phænomena
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.
The same phenomena that we saw in the global financial crisis “are all in place now, again.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026
They were worried about El Niño, a planetary dance of weather phenomena that starts with spiking heat in the Pacific and deals out drought and floods across continents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026
The approach makes explicit what James sees as a basic assumption underlying science: physical phenomena can cause both physical and nonphysical phenomena, while nonphysical phenomena cannot themselves cause physical events.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 25, 2026
“There’s a phenomena during El Niños where the waters offshore California get warmer, and they actually rise up, up to a foot, sometimes more, higher than average,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
Like contemporary astrologers, the Olmec, Maya, and Zapotec believed that celestial phenomena like the phases of the moon and Venus affect daily life.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
