event

An occurrence; something that happens.

Noun

  1. An occurrence; something that happens.
    • In the event of strong wind…
    • the events of his early years - 1856 February, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Oliver Goldsmith”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London:...
    • Experience in Australia indicates that after a devastating weather event, up to one-fifth of people suffer the debilitating effects of extreme stress, emotional injury, and despair. - 2017, Anthony J. McMichael,...

    Synonyms: circumstance

  2. A prearranged social activity (function, etc.)
    • I went to an event in San Francisco last week.
    • Where will the event be held?
  3. One of several contests that combine to make up a competition.
  4. An end result; an outcome (now chiefly in phrases).
    • hard beginnings have many times prosperous events […]. - 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for...
    • Of my ill boding Dream / Behold the dire Event. - 1707, Semele, by Eccles and Congrieve; scene 8
    • dark doubts between the promise and event - 1743, [Edward Young], “Night the Fourth. The Christian Triumph.”, in The Complaint: Or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, and Immortality, London: […] R[obert] Dodsley, […],...
  5. A remarkable person.
    • Miss Burton, you are an event! Sleepy, old Lymston's going to love you! Bye-bye. Bye. - 1985, Miss Marple: The Moving Finger, spoken by Mr. Pye (Richard Pearson):

    Synonyms: sensation

  6. A point in spacetime having three spatial coordinates and one temporal coordinate.
  7. A possible action that the user can perform that is monitored by an application or the operating system (event listener). When an event occurs an event handler is called which performs a specific task.
  8. A set of some of the possible outcomes; a subset of the sample space.
    • If X is a random variable representing the toss of a six-sided die, then its sample space could be denoted as {1,2,3,4,5,6}. Examples of events could be: X=1, X=2, X>5,X̸=4, and X isin 1,3,5.
  9. An affair in hand; business; enterprise.
    • Leave we him to his events. - c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
  10. An episode of severe health conditions.

Origin

From Middle French event, from Latin ēventus (“an event, occurrence”), from ēveniō (“to happen, to fall out, to come out”), from ē (“out of, from”), short form of ex + veniō (“come”); related to venture, advent, convent, invent, convene, evene, etc.

Forms

events

Hyponyms

blessed event credit event Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event current events doomsday event episodic events extinction event impact event media event quick time event risk event sentinel event social event speciation event

Related

event horizon in the event wise after the event

Derived

adverse event after-event afterevent anoxic event at any event Azolla event bioevent black swan event Bond event canon event certain event chain of events Christ event coevent combined event cosmic event horizon cosmological event horizon doujin event energetic event event-based event-based programming event CG event data recorder event derivative

Verb intransitive, obsolete

  1. To be emitted or breathed out; to evaporate.
    • c. 1597, Ben Jonson, The Case is Altered, Act V, Scene 8, in C. H. Herford and Percy Simpson (editors), Ben Jonson, Volume 3, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1927, p. 178, ô that thou sawst my heart, or didst behold The place...
    • This is the reason why this water hath no such force when it is carried, as it hath at the spring it self: because the vertue of it consisteth in a spiritual and occulte qualitie, which eventeth and vanisheth by the...
  2. To expose to the air, ventilate.
    • 1559, attributed to William Baldwin, “How the Lorde Clyfford for his straunge and abhominable cruelty came to as straunge and sodayne a death” in The Mirror for Magistrates, Part III, edited by Joseph Haslewood, London:...
    • 1598, George Chapman, The Third Sestiad, Hero and Leander (completion of the poem begun by Christopher Marlowe), […] as Phœbus throws His beams abroad, though he in clouds be clos’d, Still glancing by them till he find...

Origin

From French éventer.

Forms

events eventing evented

Verb obsolete

  1. To occur, take place.
    • 1590, Robert Greene, Greene’s Never Too Late, in The Life and Complete Works in Prose and Verse of Robert Greene, Volume 8, Huff Library, 1881, p. 33, […] I will first rehearse you an English Historie acted and evented...

Forms

events eventing evented