incident
incidents; incidently
An incident refers to a particular happening, sometimes criminal but always noteworthy. If there was a food fight in the cafeteria, an e-mail might be sent to the parents of all students telling of the incident at school.
The word incident is quite vague. It can refer to a humorous occurrence or a violent one, something that disturbed one's routine or something unusual that happened. If a child screams in a library, it's not that unusual, but if an adult does, that's an incident! As an adjective, incident is used in the field of physics to describe particles or radiation that fall on a surface. The incident light showed how dirty the windows were.
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a single distinct event
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types:
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cause celebre
an incident that attracts great public attention
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contagion, infection, transmission
an incident in which an infectious disease is transmitted
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scene
an incident (real or imaginary)
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sideshow
a subordinate incident of little importance relative to the main event
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type of:
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happening, natural event, occurrence, occurrent
an event that happens
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a public disturbance“the police investigated an incident at the bus station”
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type of:
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commotion, disruption, disturbance, flutter, hoo-ha, hoo-hah, hurly burly, kerfuffle, to-do
a disorderly outburst or tumult
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commotion, disruption, disturbance, flutter, hoo-ha, hoo-hah, hurly burly, kerfuffle, to-do
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(sometimes followed by `to') minor or casual or subordinate in significance or nature or occurring as a chance concomitant or consequence
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synonyms:
incidental
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omissible
capable of being left out
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parenthetic, parenthetical
qualifying or explaining; placed or as if placed in parentheses
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peripheral
related to the key issue but not of central importance
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secondary
depending on or incidental to what is original or primary
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Antonyms:
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basic
pertaining to or constituting a base or basis
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basal, base
serving as or forming a base
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elemental, elementary, primary
of or being the essential or basic part
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fundamental, rudimentary, underlying
being or involving basic facts or principles
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grassroots
fundamental
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radical
arising from or going to the root or source
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omissible
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falling or striking of light rays on something“incident light”
Vocabulary lists containing incident
Eleven-year-old Rose Howard, who prefers rules and routines, struggles when a hurricane changes her life in a New York town.
Told in the form of journal entries and a screenplay, this novel tells the story of a teenager on trial for murder.
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