Occasion

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Occasion \Oc*ca"sion\ ([o^]k*k[=a]"zh[u^]n), n. [F. occasion, L.
     occasio, fr. occidere, occasum, to fall down; ob (see {Ob-})
     + cadere to fall. See {Chance}, and cf. {Occident}.]
     1. A falling out, happening, or coming to pass; hence, that
        which falls out or happens; occurrence; incident; event.
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              The unlooked-for incidents of family history, and
              its hidden excitements, and its arduous occasions.
                                                    --I. Taylor.
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     2. A favorable opportunity; a convenient or timely chance;
        convenience.
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              Sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived
              me.                                   --Rom. vii.
                                                    11.
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              I'll take the occasion which he gives to bring
              Him to his death.                     --Waller.
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     3. An occurrence or condition of affairs which brings with it
        some unlooked-for event; that which incidentally brings to
        pass an event, without being its efficient cause or
        sufficient reason; accidental or incidental cause.
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              Her beauty was the occasion of the war. --Dryden.
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     4. Need; exigency; requirement; necessity; as, I have no
        occasion for firearms.
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              After we have served ourselves and our own
              occasions.                            --Jer. Taylor.
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              When my occasions took me into France. --Burke.
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     5. A reason or excuse; a motive; a persuasion.
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              Whose manner was, all passengers to stay,
              And entertain with her occasions sly. --Spenser.
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     {On occasion},
        (a) in case of need; in necessity; as convenience
            requires. "That we might have intelligence from him on
            occasion," --De Foe.
        (b) occasionally; from time to time; now and then.
            [1913 Webster +PJC]
  
     Syn: Need; incident; use. See {Opportunity}.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Occasion \Oc*ca"sion\ ([o^]k*k[=a]"zh[u^]n), v. t. [imp. & p. p.
     {Occasioned} ([o^]k*k[=a]"zh[u^]nd); p. pr. & vb. n.
     {Occasioning}.] [Cf. F. occasionner.]
     To give occasion to; to cause; to produce; to induce; as, to
     occasion anxiety. --South.
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           If we inquire what it is that occasions men to make
           several combinations of simple ideas into distinct
           modes.                                   --Locke.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  occasion
       n 1: an event that occurs at a critical time; "at such junctures
            he always had an impulse to leave"; "it was needed only
            on special occasions" [syn: {juncture}]
       2: a vaguely specified social event; "the party was quite an
          affair"; "an occasion arranged to honor the president"; "a
          seemingly endless round of social functions" [syn: {affair},
           {social occasion}, {function}, {social function}]
       3: reason; "there was no occasion for complaint"
       4: the time of a particular event; "on the occasion of his 60th
          birthday"
       5: an opportunity to do something; "there was never an occasion
          for her to demonstrate her skill"
       v : give occasion to

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  153 Moby Thesaurus words for "occasion":
     a leg up, advantage, adventure, affair, antecedent, antecedents,
     author, bare necessities, base, basis, bear, beget, break, breed,
     bring about, bring forth, bring on, bring to effect, bring to pass,
     call, call for, call forth, call up, causation, cause,
     cause and effect, celebration, ceremony, chance, circumstance,
     clear stage, commemoration, conceive, condition, conjuncture,
     contingency, create, demand, demand for, desideration, desideratum,
     determinant, determinative, do, effect, effectuate, element,
     elicit, engender, episode, essential, essentials, establish,
     etiology, event, eventuality, evoke, excuse, experience, fact,
     factor, fair field, fair game, father, found, foundation, function,
     gala, generate, gestate, give birth to, give occasion to,
     give origin to, give rise to, go, ground, grounds, hap, happening,
     happenstance, impel, impulse, inaugurate, incident, incitement,
     indispensable, induce, inducement, institute, juncture,
     justification, liberty, look-in, make, make for, matter of fact,
     milestone, moment, must, must item, necessaries, necessities,
     necessity, need, need for, obligation, observance, occasionally,
     occurrence, on occasion, opening, opportunism, opportunity,
     originate, particular, party, phenomenon, place, prerequirement,
     prerequisite, principle, produce, prompt, prompting, provocation,
     provoke, reality, realize, reason, requirement, requisite,
     requisition, right, room, scope, set afloat, set on foot, set up,
     shot, show, sire, squeak, stepping-stone, stimulus, the necessary,
     the needful, thing, time, turn of events, want, warrant, work,
     work up