occasion
/əˈkeɪ̯ʒən/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.38 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An occurrence or state of affairs which causes some event or reaction; a motive or reason.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "I'll take the occasion which he gives to bring / Him to his death."
- "That our Work, therefore, might be in no Danger of being likened to the Labours of theſe Hiſtorians, we have taken every Occaſion of interſpersing through the whole ſundry Similes, Deſcriptions, and other kind of poetical Embelliſhments."
- "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."
Etymology
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”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *ḱh₂d-, occasioun, occasion, occasiun, occāsiō