occasion
Syllables: oc·ca·sion/əˈkeɪ̯ʒən/
occasion noun: a favorable opportunity; a convenient or timely chance.
Noun
occasion (countable and uncountable, plural occasions)
- A favorable opportunity; a convenient or timely chance.
- At this point, she seized the occasion to make her own observation.
- Foꝛ ſynne toke occaſiõ by the meanes of the cõmaundement and ſo diſceaved me / and by the ſilfe cõmaundemẽt ſlewe me.1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Romans vij:[11], folio ccvj, verso
- The time when something happens.
- On this occasion, I'm going to decline your offer, but next time I might agree.
- And Vickers launched forth in a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with supreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes. He said that if you wanted to do anything for them, you must rule them, not pamper them.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 203
- An occurrence or state of affairs which causes some event or reaction; a motive or reason.
- I had no occasion to feel offended, however.
- Something which causes something else; a cause.
- [I]t were too vile to ſay, and ſcarce to be beleeued, what we endured: but the occaſion was our owne, for want of prouidence, induſtrie and gouernment, […]1624, Iohn [i.e., John] Smith, “What happened in the first gouernment after the alteration in the time of Captaine George Piercie their Gouernour”, in The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England...
- An occurrence or incident.
- A particular happening; an instance or time when something occurred.
- I could think of two separate occasions when she had deliberately lied to me.
- a momentous occasion in the history of South Africa
- A need; requirement, necessity.
- I have no occasion for firearms.
- […] after we have ſerved our ſelves, and our own occaſions.1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, “Consideration of the general instruments and means serving to a holy Life: by way of Introduction”, in The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […]...
- A special event or function.
- Having people round for dinner was always quite an occasion at our house.
- A reason or excuse; a motive; a persuasion.
- VVhoſe manner was all paſſengers to ſtay, / And entertaine with her occaſions ſly, […]1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 13, page 142
Verb
occasion (third-person singular simple present occasions, present participle occasioning, simple past and past participle occasioned)
- To cause; to produce; to induce
- It is seen that the mental changes are occasioned by a change of polarity.
- To the Author's private circle the appearance of this singular Work on Clothes must have occasioned little less surprise than it has to the rest of the world.1831, Thomas Carlyle, “Reminiscences”, in Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, 1st book, page 9
occasion meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
occasion in Hindi
- occasion, time
- बार bār, दफ़ा dafā, वार vār
occasion in Tamil
- தருணம், நிகழ்வு, நிகழ்ச்சி, சந்தர்ப்பம், வாய்ப்பு, சமயம்
occasion in Marathi
- occasion, event
- प्रसंग prasaṅga
- occasion
- अवसर avsar
occasion in Urdu
- occasion, chance; opportunity
- فرصت fursat
- occasion, time
- دفعہ daf'a, وار vār, مرتبہ martabā
- occasion
- موضع mauza'
More languagesFewer languages
- occasion in Bengali
- মওকা moōka
- occasion in Telugu
- సందర్భం sandarbhaṁ, ఎడము eḍamu
- occasion in Malayalam
- വേള vēḷa
- occasion in Kannada
- ಅವಸರ avasara
- occasion in Punjabi
- ਵਕ਼ਤ vaqat, ٹیچا ṭīcā
- occasion in Gujarati
- ફુરસદ phursad, પ્રસંગ prasaṅg, ટાણું ṭāṇũ
- occasion in Sanskrit
- अवकाश avakāśa, प्रकरण prakaraṇa, योग yóga, अवसर avasara
- occasion in Sinhala
- අවස්ථාව awasthāwa
- occasion in Tagalog
- okasyon
- occasion in Arabic
- فُرْصَة furṣa, مُنَاسَبَة munāsaba
- occasion in Persian
- مناسبت monâsebat
- occasion in Thai
- โอกาส oo-gàat, คราว kraao, ครั้ง kráng, เหตุ hèet
Examples of occasion in a sentence
- I'll take the occasion which he gives to bring / Him to his death.1690, Edmund Waller, The Maids Tragedy Alter'd:
- I only think of you on two occasions / That's day and night / I'd go for broke if I could be with you / Only you can make it right1987, The Deele, “Two Occasions”, in Eyes of a Stranger (album):
- 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.2013 April 9, Andrei Lankov, “Stay Cool. Call North Korea’s Bluff.”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company...
- When my occaſions took me into France, […]1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to...
Synonyms of occasion
Forms of occasion
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | occasions |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | occasions |
| present participle | occasioning |
| past participle | occasioned |
| past | occasioned |
Origin of occasion
From Middle English occasioun, from Middle French occasion, from Old French occasiun, from Latin occāsiōnem, noun of action from perfect passive participle occāsus, from verb occidō, from prefix ob- (“down", "away”) + verb cadō (“fall”).
Words formed from occasion
Phrases with occasion
Words that rhyme with occasion
Questions about occasion
- What does occasion mean?
- Occasion means a favorable opportunity; a convenient or timely chance.
- What is occasion in Hindi?
- Occasion in Hindi is बार (bār), दफ़ा (dafā), वार (vār). See Occasion meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use occasion in a sentence?
- I'll take the occasion which he gives to bring / Him to his death.
- What part of speech is occasion?
- Occasion can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce occasion?
- Occasion is pronounced /əˈkeɪ̯ʒən/.
- What is the plural of occasion?
- The plural of occasion is occasions.
Words near occasion in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: occasion (page history and authors); दफ़ा (Hindi) (page history and authors); occasion (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); अवसर (Marathi) (page history and authors); دفعہ (Urdu) (page history and authors); ఎడము (Telugu) (page history and authors); വേള (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ಅವಸರ (Kannada) (page history and authors); ٹیچا (Punjabi) (page history and authors); ટાણું (Gujarati) (page history and authors); अवकाश (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “occasion.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/occasion. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.