Word
occurrence
Phoneticsoc·cur·rence
US/əˈkɝəns/
UK/əkˈɜːɹəns/
Definitions
01an event
n. something that happens, especially an event that is not planned.
n. an instance of something happening; a specific event or incident.
“Power cuts are a common occurrence during the stormy winter months.”
“The sudden appearance of the rare bird in a suburban garden was such an unusual occurrence that it drew birdwatchers from across the country.”
Usage
Often used with adjectives like 'common', 'rare', or 'everyday'.
Pitfall
It was a strange occurance.
It was a strange occurrence.
The word is frequently misspelled; remember it has a double 'c' and a double 'r'.
02existence or frequency
n. the fact of something existing or being found in a place.
n. the fact or frequency of something appearing or existing within a particular place or dataset.
“Scientists are studying the occurrence of microplastics in the local river.”
“The researchers noted a high occurrence of specific mineral deposits along the fault line, suggesting a complex geological history.”
Academic · Technical
Usage
Often followed by the preposition 'of'.
Teaching tip
In academic writing, this sense is used to discuss how often a specific feature or substance appears in a sample.
Synonyms
Antonyms
03linguistic aspect
n. the way a verb describes an action happening over time.
n. the lexical aspect or 'aktionsart' of a verb or predicate, specifically regarding how it unfolds in time.
“The professor explained how the occurrence of the verb changed its meaning.”
“In formal semantics, the occurrence of a predicate is analyzed based on whether the action has a natural endpoint or continues indefinitely.”
Technical · Formal
Usage
Used as a technical term in linguistics and grammar.
Teaching tip
This is a highly specialized term; most learners will only encounter it in advanced linguistics textbooks.
Synonyms
Real-World Examples
“From 2001 to 2003, my laboratory studied the occurrence of those protozoa at six sewage treatment plants – one each in Arizona and California and four in Florida.” “Machine learning requires ample training data in order to make future predictions, but extreme events are by nature rare occurrences.” Etymology
From Middle French occurrence, from Medieval Latin occurrentia. Morphologically occur + -ence.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Collocations
Related words
Domain
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/occurrence