Meaning & use

occurrence

noun·Academic

Something that happens or takes place; an event, or the fact of something happening.

See it in a sentence

Power outages are a common occurrence during the heaviest storms of the winter.

The strange occurrence in the lab was never fully explained by the scientists.

A note on using this word

Occurrence is often paired with frequency words like 'common', 'rare', or 'frequent occurrence'; note the double r and double c in spelling, a frequent error.

Words with a similar meaning

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “occurrence”, then compare your use with the examples above.

Your draft stays on this page and is not sent anywhere.