phenomenon
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /fəˈnɒm.ɪ.nən/
ipa: /fɪ-/
ipa: /fəˈnɑ.məˌnɑn/
ipa: /-nən/
ipa: /fəˈnɔm.ə.nɔn/
ipa: /-nən/
Forms: form: phenomena
form: phenomenons
form: phenomenon
form: phaenomenon
form: phænomenon
form: phainomenon
form: phœnomenon
Etymology: From Late Latin phaenomenon (“appearance”), from Ancient Greek φαινόμενον (phainómenon, “thing appearing to view”), neuter present middle participle of φαίνω (phaínō, “I show”).
Senses: examples: text: The year 1866 was signalised by a remarkable incident, a mysterious and inexplicable phenomenon, which doubtless no one has yet forgotten.
ref: 1873, Jules Verne, chapter I, in [anonymous], transl., Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas; […], James R. Osgood edition, Boston, Mass.: Geo[rge] M[urray] Smith & Co., →OCLC, part I, page 3:
text: The Indians, making a hasty inference from a trivial phenomenon, arrived unawares at a probably correct conclusion.
ref: 1900, Andrew Lang, chapter 1, in The Making of Religion:
text: In the sense in which we are using the term, the intellectuals are in fact a fairly new phenomenon of history.
ref: 1949, F. A. Hayek, “The Intellectuals and Socialism”, in University of Chicago Law Review, volume 16, number 3, Chicago: University of Chicago, →DOI, page 420:
text: Hurricanes are a meteorological phenomenon.
ref: 2007 November 7, “Ask the Experts: Hurricanes”, in USA Today, retrieved 16 Jan 2009:
glosses: A thing or being, event or process, perceptible through senses; or a fact or occurrence thereof.
examples: text: An electromagnetic phenomenon.
glosses: A knowable thing or event (eg by inference, especially in science).
examples: text: A volcanic eruption is an impressive phenomenon.
glosses: A kind or type of phenomenon (sense 1 or 2).
examples: text: I verily believe that in the Moon there are no rains, for if Clouds should gather in any part thereof, as they do about the Earth, they would thereupon hide from our sight some of those things, which we with the Telescope behold in the Moon, and in a word, would some way or other change its Phœnomenon.
ref: 1662, Thomas Salusbury, transl., Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief Systems of the World, First Day:
glosses: Appearance; a perceptible aspect of something that is mutable.
examples: text: The phenomenon of a huge blazing fire, upon the opposite bank of the glen, again presented itself to the eye of the watchman. . . . He resolved to examine more nearly the object of his wonder.
ref: 1816, [Walter Scott], chapter XVIII, in The Antiquary. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC:
glosses: A fact or event considered very unusual, curious, or astonishing by those who witness it.
examples: text: "This, sir," said Mr Vincent Crummles, bringing the maiden forward, "this is the infant phenomenon—Miss Ninetta Crummles."
ref: 1838 March – 1839 October, Charles Dickens, chapter 23, in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1839, →OCLC:
text: But, all the same, you're a phenomenon, and as queer a phenomenon as you are a blackguard.
ref: 1888, Rudyard Kipling, The Phantom Rickshaw:
glosses: A wonderful or very remarkable person or thing.
examples: text: Every "phenomenon" must be, at any rate, partly subjective or dependent on the subject.
ref: 1900, S. Tolver Preston, “Comparison of Some Views of Spencer and Kant”, in Mind, volume 9, number 34, page 234:
text: The Kantian phenomenon is the real as we are compelled to think it.
ref: 1912, Roy Wood Sellars, “Is There a Cognitive Relation?”, in The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods, volume 9, number 9, page 232:
topics: human-sciences
philosophy
sciences
qualifier: chiefly Kantian idealism
glosses: An experienced object whose constitution reflects the order and conceptual structure imposed upon it by the human mind (especially by the powers of perception and understanding).
Synonyms: sense: observable fact or occurrence
word: event
sense: unusual, curious, or astonishing fact or event
word: marvel
sense: unusual, curious, or astonishing fact or event
word: miracle
sense: unusual, curious, or astonishing fact or event
word: oddity
sense: unusual, curious, or astonishing fact or event
word: wonder
sense: unusual, curious, or astonishing fact or event
word: legend
sense: wonderful person or thing
word: marvel
sense: wonderful person or thing
word: miracle
sense: wonderful person or thing
word: phenom
sense: wonderful person or thing
word: prodigy
sense: wonderful person or thing
word: wonder
sense: wonderful person or thing
word: legend
Derived terms: Baader-Meinhof phenomenon
Bezold-Brücke phenomenon
coprophenomenon
doorknob phenomenon
echophenomenon
epiphenomenon
Ferranti phenomenon
fis phenomenon
Gibbs phenomenon
Holmes rebound phenomenon
impostor phenomenon
Jod-Basedow phenomenon
Kamalanomenon
Koebner phenomenon
Kohnstamm's phenomenon
macrophenomenon
Marcus Gunn phenomenon
metaphenomenon
microphenomenon
nanophenomenon
nutcracker phenomenon
phenom
phenomenal
phenomenalism
phenomenalistic
phenomenally
phenomenic
phenomenical
phenomenography
phenomenology
phi phenomenon
protophenomenon
QWERTY phenomenon
Raynaud's phenomenon
rebound phenomenon
rocking horse phenomenon
Runge's phenomenon
small-world phenomenon
subphenomenon
superphenomenon
symphenomenon
Uhthoff's phenomenon
unexplained aerial phenomenon
unidentified aerial phenomenon
Will Rogers phenomenon
windscreen phenomenon
windshield phenomenon
Related terms: -phane
phene
pheno-
phenotype