phenomenon

Noun

phenomenon (plural phenomena or (proscribed) phenomenons or phenomenon)

1. A thing or being, event or process, perceptible through senses; or a fact or occurrence thereof.
   • The year 1866 was signalised by a remarkable incident, a mysterious and inexplicable phenomenon, which doubtless no one has yet forgotten.1873, Jules Verne, chapter I, in [anonymous], transl., Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas; […], James R. Osgood edition, Boston, Mass.: Geo[rge] M[urray] Smith & Co., →OCLC, part I, page 3
   • The Indians, making a hasty inference from a trivial phenomenon, arrived unawares at a probably correct conclusion.1900, Andrew Lang, chapter 1, in The Making of Religion

   Synonyms:

   event

2. (broadly) A knowable thing or event (e.g. by inference, especially in science).
   • An electromagnetic phenomenon.
3. A kind or type of phenomenon (sense 1 or 2).
   • A volcanic eruption is an impressive phenomenon.
4. Appearance; a perceptible aspect of something that is mutable.
   • I verily believe that in the Moon there are no rains, for if Clouds should gather in any part thereof, as they do about the Earth, they would thereupon hide from our sight some of those things, which we with the Telescope behold in the Moon, and in a word, would some way or other change its...1662, Thomas Salusbury, transl., Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief Systems of the World, First Day
5. A fact or event considered very unusual, curious, or astonishing by those who witness it.
   • The phenomenon of a huge blazing fire, upon the opposite bank of the glen, again presented itself to the eye of the watchman. . . . He resolved to examine more nearly the object of his wonder.1816, [Walter Scott], chapter XVIII, in The Antiquary. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC
   • Not much later—perhaps only two or three weeks later he has discovered meaning in them; he knows that they say "The cat sat on the hat." How this happens no one really knows, despite the efforts of philosophers and psychologists over two and a half millennia to study the phenomenon. [...] Indeed...1972, Mortimer J. Adler, Charles Van Doren, How to Read a Book, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 25

   Synonyms:

   marvel, miracle, oddity, wonder, legend

6. A wonderful or very remarkable person or thing.
   • "This, sir," said Mr Vincent Crummles, bringing the maiden forward, "this is the infant phenomenon—Miss Ninetta Crummles."1838 March – 1839 October, Charles Dickens, chapter 23, in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1839, →OCLC
   • But, all the same, you're a phenomenon, and as queer a phenomenon as you are a blackguard.1888, Rudyard Kipling, The Phantom Rickshaw

   Synonyms:

   marvel, miracle, phenom, prodigy, wonder, legend

7. (chiefly Kantian idealism) An experienced object whose constitution reflects the order and conceptual structure imposed upon it by the human mind (especially by the powers of perception and understanding).
   • Every "phenomenon" must be, at any rate, partly subjective or dependent on the subject.1900, S. Tolver Preston, “Comparison of Some Views of Spencer and Kant”, in Mind, volume 9, number 34, page 234
   • The Kantian phenomenon is the real as we are compelled to think it.1912, Roy Wood Sellars, “Is There a Cognitive Relation?”, in The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods, volume 9, number 9, page 232