phenomenon
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: human-sciences
philosophy
sciences
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂-der.
Proto-Hellenic *pʰáňňō
Ancient Greek φαίνω (phaínō)
Ancient Greek φαινόμενον (phainómenon)bor.
Late Latin phaenomenonder.
English phenomenon
From Late Latin phaenomenon (“appearance”), from Ancient Greek φαινόμενον (phainómenon, “thing appearing to view”), neuter present middle participle of φαίνω (phaínō, “I show”).
Inflected forms:
form: phenomena
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: phenomenons
pos: noun
tags: plural
proscribed
form: phenomenon
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: phaenomenon
pos: noun
tags: alternative
archaic
form: phænomenon
pos: noun
tags: alternative
archaic
form: phainomenon
pos: noun
tags: alternative
archaic
form: phœnomenon
pos: noun
tags: alternative
hypercorrect
obsolete
Senses:
gloss: A thing or being, event or process, perceptible through senses; or a fact or occurrence thereof.
pos: noun
examples: The year 1866 was signalised by a remarkable incident, a mysterious and inexplicable phenomenon, which doubtless no one has yet forgotten.
The Indians, making a hasty inference from a trivial phenomenon, arrived unawares at a probably correct conclusion.
In the sense in which we are using the term, the intellectuals are in fact a fairly new phenomenon of history.
It is important to note the differences between hurricanes and earthquakes — hurricanes are a meteorological phenomenon while earthquakes are geological. Both hurricanes and earthquakes can produce damage by flooding of coastal areas, but a hurricane's storm surge and a tsunami associated with an earthquake are entirely different phenomena.
gloss: A knowable thing or event (e.g. by inference, especially in science).
pos: noun
tags: broadly
examples: An electromagnetic phenomenon.
gloss: A kind or type of phenomenon (sense 1 or 2).
pos: noun
examples: A volcanic eruption is an impressive phenomenon.
gloss: Appearance; a perceptible aspect of something that is mutable.
pos: noun
examples: 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.
gloss: A fact or event considered very unusual, curious, or astonishing by those who witness it.
pos: noun
examples: 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.
Not much later—perhaps only two or three weeks later he has discovered meaning in them; he knows that they say "The cat sat on the hat." How this happens no one really knows, despite the efforts of philosophers and psychologists over two and a half millennia to study the phenomenon. [...] Indeed, this discovery of meaning in symbols may be the most astounding intellectual feat that any human being ever performs—and most humans perform it before they are seven years old!
gloss: A wonderful or very remarkable person or thing.
pos: noun
examples: "This, sir," said Mr Vincent Crummles, bringing the maiden forward, "this is the infant phenomenon—Miss Ninetta Crummles."
But, all the same, you're a phenomenon, and as queer a phenomenon as you are a blackguard.
gloss: 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).
pos: noun
examples: Every "phenomenon" must be, at any rate, partly subjective or dependent on the subject.
The Kantian phenomenon is the real as we are compelled to think it.
Antonyms: noumenon
thing-in-itself
Related words: -phane
phene
pheno-
phenotype
Derived words: 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
Mariko Aoki 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
Stein's phenomenon
subphenomenon
superphenomenon
symphenomenon
Uhthoff's phenomenon
unexplained aerial phenomenon
unidentified aerial phenomenon
Will Rogers phenomenon
windscreen phenomenon
windshield phenomenon
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