phenomenon

phe·nom·e·non

noun \fi-ˈnä-mə-ˌnän, -nən\

plural phe·nom·e·na \-nə, -ˌnä\ or phe·nom·e·nons

Definition of PHENOMENON

1

plural phenomena : an observable fact or event

2

plural phenomena a : an object or aspect known through the senses rather than by thought or intuition b : a temporal or spatiotemporal object of sensory experience as distinguished from a noumenon c : a fact or event of scientific interest susceptible to scientific description and explanation

3

a : a rare or significant fact or event b plural phenomenons : an exceptional, unusual, or abnormal person, thing, or occurrence

See Usage Discussion at phenomena

Examples of PHENOMENON

1. natural phenomena like lightning and earthquakes
2. the greatest literary phenomenon of the decade
3. The movie eventually became a cultural phenomenon.
4. For example, we talk more loudly in cars, because of a phenomenon known as the Lombard effect—the speaker involuntarily raises his voice to compensate for background noise. —John Seabrook, New Yorker, 23 June 2008
5. This follow-the-winemaker phenomenon is a unique wrinkle in our wine culture. —James Laube, Wine Spectator, 15 May 2008
6. Contrary to the notion that war is a continuation of policy by other means … , both Keegan and Mueller find that war is a cultural product rather than a phenomenon or law of nature and therefore subject, like other modes of human expression (the wearing of togas or powdered wigs, the keeping of slaves, the art of cave painting), to the falling out of fashion. —Lewis H. Lapham, Harper's, September 2007
7. The days and nights of the Irish pub, smoky and dark and intimate, are giving way to another phenomenon: the superpub. These are immense places, loud with music; part honkytonk, part dance hall, some servicing as many as a thousand drinkers on several floors. —Pete Hamill, Gourmet, April 2007
8. They were ephemera and phenomena on the face of a contemporary scene. That is, there was really no place for them in the culture, in the economy, yet they were there, at that time, and everyone knew that they wouldn't last very long, which they didn't. —William Faulkner, letter, 7 Mar. 1957

Origin of PHENOMENON

Late Latin phaenomenon, from Greek phainomenon, from neuter of phainomenos, present participle of phainesthai to appear, middle voice of phainein to show — more at fancy

First Known Use: 1605

Related to PHENOMENON

Synonyms: caution, flash, marvel, miracle, wonder, portent, prodigy, sensation, splendor

Related Words: curiosity, sight, spectacle; beauty, corker, crackerjack (also crackajack), dandy, jim-dandy, knockout; apparition, appearance

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Rhymes with PHENOMENON

abutilon, Agamemnon, anticodon, antiproton, archenteron, arrière-ban, asyndeton, automaton, Azerbaijan, Bellerophon, bildungsroman, carrying-on, diazinon, dodecagon, emoticon, encephalon, get a move on, himation, interferon, kakiemon, keep an eye on, Laocoön, mesenteron, Michoacán, millimicron, oxymoron, protozoon, pteranodon, put the arm on, put the make on, rear echelon, Rostov-on-Don, Saskatchewan, septentrion, set one's heart on, set one's sights on, sine qua non, steal a march on, take it out on, Taklimakan, turn one's back on, Vientiane, wipe one's boots on, zero coupon, zooplankton