Phenomenon Meaning
/fəˈnɒm.ɪ.nən/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA thing or being, event or process, perceptible through senses; or a fact or occurrence thereof.
nounA knowable thing or event (e.g. by inference, especially in science).
Sentence Examples
The phenomenon of interest is in itself, a most interesting subject.
Lightning is an electrical phenomenon.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The appearance of colorful lights in the night sky is a rare natural ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The rapid spread of the video was a social media ____ that no one had predicted.
Word Origin & History
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”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The year 1866 was signalised by a remarkable incident, a mysterious and inexplicable phenomenon, which doubtless no one has yet forgotten."
— 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:
"The Indians, making a hasty inference from a trivial phenomenon, arrived unawares at a probably correct conclusion."
— 1900, Andrew Lang, chapter 1, in The Making of Religion:
"In the sense in which we are using the term, the intellectuals are in fact a fairly new phenomenon of history."
— 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:
"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."
— 2007 November 7, “Ask the Experts: Hurricanes”, in USA Today, archived from the original on 04 Feb 2012, retrieved 16 Jan 2009:
"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."
— 1662, Thomas Salusbury, transl., Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief Systems of the World, First Day:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The appearance of colorful lights in the night sky is a rare natural ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The rapid spread of the video was a social media ____ that no one had predicted.