occasion

plural occasions

1. countableuncountableA favorable opportunity; a convenient or timely chance.First known use 14th c.

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

   3 more examples

   Foꝛ ſynne toke occaſiõ by the meanes of the cõmaundement and ſo diſceaved me / and by the ſilfe cõmaundemẽt ſlewe me.

   1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Romans vij:[11], folio ccvj, verso

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

   1690, Edmund Waller, The Maids Tragedy Alter'd

   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.

   1749, Henry Fielding, “Containing five Pages of Paper”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume II, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book IV, pages 2–3

2. countableuncountableThe time when something happens.

   On this occasion, I'm going to decline your offer, but next time I might agree.

   1 more example

   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.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 203

3. countableuncountableAn occurrence or state of affairs which causes some event or reaction; a motive or reason.First known use 14th c.

   I had no occasion to feel offended, however.

4. countableuncountableSomething which causes something else; a cause.First known use 14th c.

   [I]t were too vile to ſay, and ſcarce to be beleeued, what we endured: but the occaſion was our owne, for want of prouidence, induſtrie and gouernment, […]

   1624, Iohn [i.e., John] Smith, “What happened in the first gouernment after the alteration in the time of Captaine George Piercie their Gouernour”, in The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: […], London: […] I[ohn] D[awson] and I[ohn] H[aviland] for Michael Sparkes, →OCLC, 4th booke, page 106

5. countableobsoleteuncountableAn occurrence or incident.First known use 14th–18th c.

   Synonyms: event, happening, affair, befalling, episode, instance, event, goings-on

6. countableuncountableA particular happening; an instance or time when something occurred.First known use 15th c.

   a momentous occasion in the history of South Africa

   3 more examples

   I could think of two separate occasions when she had deliberately lied to me.

   I only think of you on two occasions / That's day and night / I'd go for broke if I could be with you / Only you can make it right

   1987, The Deele, “Two Occasions”, in Eyes of a Stranger (album)

   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.

   2013 April 9, Andrei Lankov, “Stay Cool. Call North Korea’s Bluff.”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 13 Apr 2013

   Synonyms: instant, point in time, instant, juncture, minute, moment, point in time, sith

7. countableuncountableA need; requirement, necessity.First known use 16th c.

   I have no occasion for firearms.

   3 more examples

   […] after we have ſerved our ſelves, and our own occaſions.

   1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, “Consideration of the general instruments and means serving to a holy Life: by way of Introduction”, in The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC, page 2

   When my occaſions took me into France, […]

   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[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC, page 214

   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.

   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, pages 12–13

8. countableuncountableA special event or function.First known use 19th c.

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

9. countableuncountableA reason or excuse; a motive; a persuasion.

   VVhoſe manner was all paſſengers to ſtay, / And entertaine with her occaſions ſly, […]

   1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 13, page 142

present singular third person occasions · participle present occasioning · participle past occasioned · past occasioned

1. transitiveTo cause; to produce; to induce

   It is seen that the mental changes are occasioned by a change of polarity.

   4 more examples

   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.

   1831, Thomas Carlyle, “Reminiscences”, in Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, 1st book, page 9

   […] 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.

   1946 November and December, “Additional London-Dartford Services”, in Railway Magazine, page 386

   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.

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

   In the early days of the Large Hadron Collider, when the megamachine kept running into seemingly endless, and increasingly improbable, financial and technical snags, some researchers—calling these mishaps “anti-miracles”—even half-seriously proposed that the universe was censoring us from this sort of destruction of the world occasioned by a successful run of the collider.

   2018 March 15, Peter Brannen, “Why Earth's History Appears So Miraculous”, in The Atlantic