occasion

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See also: Occasion

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from Middle French occasion, from Old French occasiun, from Latin occasiōnem, noun of action from perfect passive participle occasus, from verb occido, from prefix ob- (“down", "away”) + verb cado (“fall”).

Pronunciation[edit]

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

Noun[edit]

occasion (countable and uncountable, 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. The time when something happens.
    on this occasion, I'm going to decline your offer, but next time I might agree.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Something which causes something else; a cause. [from 14th c.]
    • 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, Kupperman, published 1988, page 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 [...].
  5. (obsolete) An occurrence or incident. [14th–18th c.]
  6. 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.
    a momentous occasion in the history of South Africa
    • 2013 April 9, Andrei Lankov, “Stay Cool. Call North Korea’s Bluff.”, in New York Times‎[1]:
      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.
  7. Need; requirement, necessity. [from 16th c.]
    I have no occasion for firearms.
  8. A special event or function. [from 19th c.]
    Having people round for dinner was always quite an occasion at our house.
  9. A reason or excuse; a motive; a persuasion.

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

occurrence or incident — see occurrence,‎ incident
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb[edit]

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

  1. (transitive) To cause; to produce; to induce
    it is seen that the mental changes are occasioned by a change of polarity
    • 1946 November and December, “Additional London-Dartford Services”, in Railway Magazine, page 386:
      […] although overcrowding on the trains running via London Bridge has occasioned considerable discomfort to regular travellers, it was noticed that the alternative route was not extensively patronised, and that the trains were seldom more than half-filled.

Translations[edit]

French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from Latin occāsiōnem (accusative of occāsiō). Compare the inherited Old French ochoison, achaison (the latter being influenced by Latin accūsātiō).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ɔ.ka.zjɔ̃/
  • audio (une occasion)(file)

Noun[edit]

occasion f (plural occasions)

  1. occasion, opportunity
  2. cause
  3. bargain, good deal
  4. secondhand or used item

Derived terms[edit]

Further reading[edit]

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