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incident

noun · adjective

Simple meaning

An event or occurrence.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

insuhduhnt

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈɪnsədənt

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. countableuncountable

    An event or occurrence.

  2. A (relatively minor) event that is incidental to, or related to others.

  3. often used in apposition

    An event affecting an aircraft, usually a plane crash.

  4. A single distinct event

  5. An event that causes or may cause an interruption or a crisis, such as a workplace illness or a software error.

adjective

  1. Coming or happening accidentally; not in the usual course of things; not in connection with the main design; not according to expectation; casual; fortuitous.

  2. Liable to happen; apt to occur; befalling; hence, naturally happening or appertaining.

  3. Arising as the result of an event, inherent.

  4. Falling or striking of light rays on something

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Varies by meaning

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

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More ways to use incident

  • “The police investigated an incident at the bus station.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Falling

incident waveincident radiation

Single

single incident

Coming

following incident

Other combinations

incident beamcritical incidentwhole incidentparticular incident

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • incidentaladjectiveDerived adjective

    Minor or casual or subordinate in significance or nature or occurring as a chance concomitant or consequence.

  • incidentallyadverbDerived adverb

    Introducing a different topic.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: event or occurrence

incidental

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.