event
/ɪˈvɛnt
/noun
1A thing that happens or takes place, especially one of importance: the momentous political events of the late 1980s...
- It was simply bad luck that it pulled out, and even worse luck that such a rare event happens when I am on the boat.
- They have also listened to the views of others - sometimes a rare event in local government.
- It really is a rare event that one email can have our headquarters having a joint chuckle.
1.1A planned public or social occasion: staff have been holding a number of events to raise money for charity...
- She will also find it very awkward to have to attend public and social events without her husband.
- It is boycotting the event to raise public awareness at what it sees are the project's flaws.
- A host of festive events is planned for the city centre over the coming weeks.
Synonyms
occurrence, happening, proceeding, episode, incident, affair, circumstance, occasion, business, matter, experience, eventuality, phenomenon;
function, gathering, get-together, jamboree
informal bash, do, jolly, shindig, shindy
1.2Each of several particular contests making up a sports competition: he repeated the success in the four-lap, 600 cc event...
- There are other sporting events that honour their champions with unique apparel.
- When you talk about the death of people at a sporting event, the sport itself passes into the background.
- It is feared that low-flying seagulls could disrupt events such as beach volleyball.
Synonyms
competition, contest, tournament, round, heat, game, match, fixture, meet, meeting, encounter;
race, bout, fight;
play-off, replay, rematch;
British clash;
Canadian & Scottish playdown;
North American split
informal, dated mill
archaic tourney
1.3 Physics A single occurrence of a process, e.g. the ionization of one atom.In the lower graph the current scale is amplified so that single channel events can be distinguished....
- The aim of induction is to find series of events whose frequency of occurrence converges toward a limit.
- Consider our passage through time as riding the shockwave of the bang event.
Phrases
after the event
in any event
in the event
in the event of ——
in the event that
in that event
Derivatives
eventless
- Today was a pretty eventless day - I woke late, and hit the road almost immediately - a club meeting, a pedicure and a visit to the University campus behind me and the work ahead of me and I am exhausted and the night has only just begun.
- But my little bit of eavesdropping for the day certainly brought some light and joy into an otherwise eventless day that brought its own frustration of having to deal with people who are not so nice.
- We were headed for an eventless evening, or so it appeared.
eventlessness
Origin
Late 16th century: from Latin eventus, from evenire 'result, happen', from e- (variant of ex-) 'out of' + venire 'come'.