occasion

English

Etymology

From Old French ocasion, from Latin occasionem (accusative of occasio), noun of action from perfect passive participle occasus, from verb occido, from prefix ob- (“down", "away”) + verb cado (“fall”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /əˈkeɪʒən/
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪʒən
  • Hyphenation: oc‧ca‧sion

Noun

occasion (plural occasions)

  1. A favorable opportunity; a convenient or timely chance. [from 14th c.]
    At this point, she seized the occasion to make her own observation.
  2. An occurrence or state of affairs which causes some event or reaction; a motive or reason. [from 14th c.]
    I had no occasion to feel offended, however.
  3. Something which causes something else; a cause. [from 14th c.]
    • 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, in Kupperman 1988, p. 130:
      it were too vile to say, and scarce to be beleeved, what we endured: but the occasion was our owne, for want of providence, industrie and government [...].
  4. (obsolete) An occurrence or incident. [14th-18th c.]
  5. A particular happening; an instance or time when something occurred. [from 15th c.]
    I could think of two separate occasions when she had deliberately lied to me.
    • 2013 April 9, Andrei Lankov, “Stay Cool. Call North Korea’s Bluff.”, New York Times:
      In the last two decades, North Korea has on various occasions conducted highly provocative missile and nuclear tests and promised to turn Seoul into a sea of fire.
  6. Need; requirement, necessity. [from 16th c.]
    • I have no occasion for firearms.
  7. A special event or function. [from 19th c.]
    Having people round for dinner was always quite an occasion at our house.

Translations

happening
favorable opportunity
occurrence which brings with it some unlooked-for event; motive, reason
need
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Verb

occasion (third-person singular simple present occasions, present participle occasioning, simple past and past participle occasioned)

  1. (transitive) To give occasion to; to cause; to produce; to induce; as, to occasion anxiety.
    it is seen that the mental changes are occasioned by a change of polarity

Translations

give occasion to

Related terms

Statistics

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French

Etymology

From Latin occasionem (accusative of occasio).

Pronunciation

  • audio (l'occasion)
    		(file)

Noun

occasion f (plural occasions)

  1. occasion, opportunity
  2. cause
  3. bargain, good deal

Derived terms

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Last modified on 20 May 2013, at 14:09