occasion

English

Etymology

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

• IPA^(key): /əˈkeɪʒən/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʒən
• Hyphenation: oc‧ca‧sion

Noun

occasion (countable and uncountable, plural occasions)

1. A favorable opportunity; a convenient or timely chance.

   At this point, she seized the occasion to make her own observation.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Romans 7:11:

     For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.

   • 1690, Edmund Waller, The Maids Tragedy Alter'd:

     I'll take the occasion which he gives to bring / Him to his death.

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter I, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A Millar, , →OCLC, book IV:

     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.

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.

   I had no occasion to feel offended, however.

4. Something which causes something else; a cause.
   • 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.
6. A particular happening; an instance or time when something occurred.

   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:

     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.

   I have no occasion for firearms.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, […], and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town. I was completely mystified at such an unusual proceeding.

   • 1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. , 2nd edition, London: Francis Ashe , →OCLC:

     after we have served ourselves and our own occasions

   • 1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. , London: J Dodsley, , →OCLC:

     when my occasions took me into France

8. A special event or function.

   Having people round for dinner was always quite an occasion at our house.

9. A reason or excuse; a motive; a persuasion.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 13:

     Whose manner was, all passengers to stay, / And entertaine with her occasions sly.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

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

   • 1831, Thomas Carlyle, “Reminiscences”, in Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh. , London: Chapman and Hall, , →OCLC, book first, page 9:

     To the Author's private circle the appearance of this singular Work on Clothes must have occasioned little less surprise than it has to the rest of the world

   • 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.

   • 1951 July, “New Pennine Tunnel”, in Railway Magazine, page 432:

     The new tunnel has been associated with, but not actually occasioned by, the electrification of the Manchester-Sheffield-Wath lines of the former L.N.E.R., initiated before the war.

Translations

French

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔ.ka.zjɔ̃/

• audio (une occasion)

  (file)

Noun

occasion f (plural occasions)

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

Derived terms

Further reading

• “occasion”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.