[syn: consequence, effect, outcome, result, event, issue, upshot]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Event \E*vent"\, n. [L. eventus, fr. evenire to happen, come
out; e out + venire to come. See Come.]
1. That which comes, arrives, or happens; that which falls
out; any incident, good or bad. "The events of his early
years." --Macaulay.
[1913 Webster]
To watch quietly the course of events. --Jowett
(Thucyd. )
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There is one event to the righteous, and to the
wicked. --Eccl. ix. 2.
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2. An affair in hand; business; enterprise. [Obs.] "Leave we
him to his events." --Shak.
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3. The consequence of anything; the issue; conclusion;
result; that in which an action, operation, or series of
operations, terminates.
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Dark doubts between the promise and event. --Young.
Syn: Incident; occurrence; adventure; issue; result;
termination; consequence; conclusion.
Usage: Event, Occurrence, Incident, Circumstance. An
event denotes that which arises from a preceding state
of things. Hence we speak or watching the event; of
tracing the progress of events. An occurrence has no
reference to any antecedents, but simply marks that
which meets us in our progress through life, as if by
chance, or in the course of divine providence. The
things which thus meet us, if important, are usually
connected with antecedents; and hence event is the
leading term. In the "Declaration of Independence" it
is said, "When, in the cource of human events, it
becomes necessary." etc. Here, occurrences would be
out of place. An incident is that which falls into a
state of things to which is does not primarily belong;
as, the incidents of a journey. The term is usually
applied to things of secondary importance. A
circumstance is one of the things surrounding us in
our path of life. These may differ greatly in
importance; but they are always outsiders, which
operate upon us from without, exerting greater or less
influence according to their intrinsic importance. A
person giving an account of a campaign might dwell on
the leading events which it produced; might mention
some of its striking occurrences; might allude to some
remarkable incidents which attended it; and might give
the details of the favorable or adverse circumstances
which marked its progress.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Event \E*vent"\, v. t. [F. ['e]venter to fan, divulge, LL.
eventare to fan, fr., L. e out + ventus wind.]
To break forth. [Obs.] --B. Jonson.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
event
n 1: something that happens at a given place and time
2: a special set of circumstances; "in that event, the first
possibility is excluded"; "it may rain in which case the
picnic will be canceled" [syn: event, case]
3: a phenomenon located at a single point in space-time; the
fundamental observational entity in relativity theory
4: a phenomenon that follows and is caused by some previous
phenomenon; "the magnetic effect was greater when the rod was
lengthwise"; "his decision had depressing consequences for
business"; "he acted very wise after the event" [syn:
consequence, effect, outcome, result, event,
issue, upshot]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
99 Moby Thesaurus words for "event":
accident, achievement, act, action, adventure, affair, aftereffect,
aftermath, anyhow, anyway, at any rate, bout, by-product, case,
chance, circumstance, come what may, competition, conclusion,
condition, conjuncture, consequence, consequent, contest,
contingency, corollary, decathlon, deed, delight, derivation,
derivative, development, distillate, double-header, doubles,
effect, end, end result, episode, eventuality, eventuation,
experience, exploit, fact, feat, fortuity, fortune, foursome,
fruit, game, games of chance, go, hap, happening, happenstance,
harvest, in any case, incident, issue, juncture, landmark, legacy,
logical outcome, match, matter of fact, meet, milepost, milestone,
occasion, occurrence, offshoot, offspring, outcome, outgrowth,
particular, pentathlon, phenomenon, play, play-off, precipitate,
product, race, reality, regardless, result, resultant, runoff,
sequel, sequela, sequence, sequent, singles, sport, thing,
threesome, treat, turn of events, twosome, upshot
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):
event
1. An occurrence or happening of significance to a
task or program, such as the completion of an asynchronous
input/output operation. A task may wait for an event or any
of a set of events or it may (request to) receive asynchronous
notification (a signal or interrupt) that the event has
occurred.
See also event-driven.
2. A transaction or other activity that affects the
records in a file.
(2000-02-09)