incident

B1 Topic:General Vocabulary

US /ˈɪn.sɪ.dənt/ See IPA manual

Freq #2476

Meanings

1

noun
An event or occurrence, especially an unusual or unpleasant one.

She could not remember exactly when the incident happened.
2

noun
A disturbance or violent event that needs official attention.

The police investigated an incident at the bus station.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · an event or occurrence,... event episode happening occurrence affair

Word family

Forms incidents

Derived forms coincidentcyberincidentincidencyincidentalincidentlessnonincidentpreincidentseroincidentsubincidentvaxident

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

embarrassing incident
an event that causes someone to feel awkward or ashamed

Adjective + noun

Simplified etymology

Incident dates from late Middle English and ultimately derives from Latin cadere ‘fall’; its literal sense is ‘fall upon’, hence ‘happen’.

Etymology

Recorded since 1412, from Middle French incident, from Latin incidens, the present active participle of incidō (“to happen, befall”), itself from in- (“on”) + -cidō, the combining form of cadō (“to fall”).

*ḱh₂d- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# incident

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈɪn.sɪ.dənt/
**Frequency rank:** 2476

## Meanings
1. An event or occurrence, especially an unusual or unpleasant one.
2. A disturbance or violent event that needs official attention.

## Examples
- She could not remember exactly when the incident happened.
- The police investigated an incident at the bus station.

## Derived Forms
- coincident
- cyberincident
- incidency
- incidental
- incidentless
- nonincident
- preincident
- seroincident
- subincident
- vaxident

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *ḱh₂d-

## Etymology
Recorded since 1412, from Middle French incident, from Latin incidens, the present active participle of incidō (“to happen, befall”), itself from in- (“on”) + -cidō, the combining form of cadō (“to fall”).

## AI Etymology
Incident Recorded since 1412, from Middle French incident, from Latin incidens, the present active participle of incidō (“to happen, befall”), itself from in- (“on”) + -cidō, the combining form of cadō (“to fall”). The analysis is mainly morphological: the modern adjectival form is built from the named base and affix. The historical line also includes *ḱh₂d-.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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