phenomenon
(fɪˈnɒmɪnən)
Pl -a. Forms: sing. 7 phain-, 7–9 phæn-, 7– phenomenon; (β. erron. 8–9 -omena). pl. α. 7– -omena; β. 7–9 -omenons; γ. erron. 7–8 -omenas (-a's).
[a. L. (post-cl.) phænomenon, pl. -a, a. Gr. ϕαινόµενον, pl. -µενα (absol. use of pr. pple. passive of ϕαίνειν to show, pass. to be seen, to appear) appearing, apparent (to the senses or mind), hence τὰ ϕαινόµενα things that appear, appearances, phenomena. Cf. F. phénomène (1570 in Hatz.-Darm.), It., Sp. fenomeno, Pg. phenomeno; Ger. phänomen.]
1. a. In scientific and general use: A thing that appears, or is perceived or observed; an individual fact, occurrence, or change as perceived by any of the senses, or by the mind: applied chiefly to a fact or occurrence, the cause or explanation of which is in question.
| a 1639 Wotton Life Dk. Buckhm. in Reliq. (1651) 102 Somwhat I must note in this strange Phainomenon. 1692 Bentley Boyle Lect. 203 The most considerable phænomenon belonging to terrestrial bodies is the general action of gravitation. 1727 De Foe Syst. Magic i. ii. (1840) 45 Observing an unusual and surprising phenomenon, viz. a star at Noonday, moving in a particular orbit. 1785 Reid Intell. Powers 618 That every phaenomenon must have a cause, was always taken for granted. 1816 Playfair Nat. Phil. II. 63 Any phenomenon, the beginning or end of which is seen at the same instant by observers under different meridians, affords the means of determining the difference of longitude. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 75 Every one is familiar with the common phenomenon of a piece of metal being eaten away by rust. |
| β (erron.) 1576 W. Toldervy Hist. 2 Orphans IV. 79 The landlady being so strange a phaenomena as to be Conscientious. 1783 J. Woodforde Diary 8 Jan. (1926) II. 54, I went..to see a wonderful Phœnomena in Nature a Heifer 3 years old with two distinct Heads. 1856 Olmsted Slave States 285 A phenomena of pregnant importance. 1947 Gerth & Mills From M. Weber: Ess. in Sociol. iii. 73 In this conception of freedom as a historically developed phenomena,..Weber represents humanist and cultural liberalism rather than economic liberalism. 1969 Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Va.) 5 Feb. 1/7 ‘They have an image now,’ said Dr. Granville C. Fisher, University of Miami psychologist, ‘and many others will follow the same route. It is a phenomena that will keep spreading.’ 1970 Nature 31 Oct. 405/2 His work is fundamental to the concept of ‘frozen’ lines of magnetic force being held inside a plasma, a phenomena of great importance to any understanding of the processes occurring in the magnetosphere. 1972 Real Estate Rev. Winter 6/1 In some of our major cities, the abandonment phenomena to be witnessed is unlike anything that can be found in the United States outside the ghost towns of the old West. |
b. Plural.
| α 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. ix. §1 It is not repugnant to any of the phainomena. 1653 H. More Antid. Ath. ii. v, Those more large Phænomena of Day and Night, Winter and Summer. 1877 E. R. Conder Bas. Faith iii. 104 The shifting phenomena of sensation. |
| β 1707 Curios. in Husb. & Gard. 55 The efficient Cause of the several Phænomenons. 1708 Brit. Apollo No. 102. 2/1 The two Phænomenons, which you question. 1735 Johnson tr. Lobo's Voy. Abyssinia x. 105 How many empty Hypotheses and idle Reasonings, the Phænomenons of this River [Nile] have put Mankind to the expence of. 1865 [see 3]. |
| γ (erron.) 1635 (title) Atlas Cœlestis, Containing the Systems and Theoryes of the Planets,..and other Phenomenas of the Heavens. 1685 Boyle Enq. Notion Nat. 17 In the Ascension of Water in Pumps, and in other Phænomena's of that kind. 1751 Guide to Stage 29 Phenomena's which have appear'd nowhere but upon our theatres. 1767 Mrs S. Pennington Lett. III. 13 All the phenominæ of Nature. |
† c. Phr.
to save (or salve) the phenomena (
tr. Gr. σώζειν τὰ ϕαινόµενα): to reconcile the observed and admitted facts with some theory or doctrine with which they appear to disagree.
to solve a phenomenon: to explain or account for an observed fact (so
solution of a phenomenon).
Obs.| 1625 Bacon Ess., Superstition (Arb.) 345 Like Astronomers, which did faigne Eccentricks and Epicycles, and such Engines of Orbs, to save the Phenomena; though they knew, there were no such Things. 1643 Milton Divorce i. i, To save the phenomenon of our Saviours answer to the Pharises. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. ii. ii, Conceits of eminent use to salve magneticall Phenomena's. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. iii. i. §9 To solve the Phænomena of nature. 1681 Nevile Plato Rediv. 214 The Phenomena of Government cannot be salved. 1704 Swift T. Tub ix. (1709) 105 An original solution of this phaenomenon. 1748 Hume Ess. & Treat. (1777) II. 134 The solution of their phænomenon is obvious. |
2. In philosophical use: That of which the senses or the mind directly takes note; an immediate object of perception (as distinguished from substance, or a thing in itself). (Opposed to
noumenon.)
| 1788 Reid Active Powers i. vi. 43–7. 1836 Emerson Nature, Idealism Wks. (Bohn) II. 160 It is the uniform effect of culture in the human mind..to lead us to regard nature as phenomenon, not as substance. 1877 E. R. Conder Bas. Faith iv. 184 Self, therefore, is not a phenomenon, nor yet a bundle of phenomena. 1895 Huxley in 19th Cent. Mar. 536 The doctrine that the subject-matter of knowledge is limited to phenomena..is common to all I have mentioned [Hume, Berkeley, Locke]. 1895 A. J. Balfour Found. Belief (ed. 2) 7 Its leading doctrines are that we may know ‘phenomena’ and the laws by which they are connected, but nothing more [etc.]. |
3. Something very notable or extraordinary; a highly exceptional or unaccountable fact or occurrence;
colloq. a thing, person, or animal remarkable for some unusual quality; a prodigy.
| 1771 Junius Lett. lvii. (1772) II. 257 From whatever origin your influence in this country arises, it is a phænomenon in the history of human virtue. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 605 Here, such occurrences are considered as phenomena. 1803 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1837) II. 411 In short, the only conclusion to be drawn..is, that, the British Government in India is a phenomenon. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xxiii, ‘This, Sir’, said Mr. Vincent Crummles, bringing the maiden forward, ‘this is the infant phenomenon—Miss Ninetta Crummles’. 1865 Cornh. Mag. May 631 People do not usually feel the same affection for phenomenons, however curious, that they do for perfectly commonplace human creatures. 1877 E. R. Conder Bas. Faith (1884) App. i. iii. §8 note, The perversion of this word ‘phenomenon’ into the sense of ‘prodigy’. Even educated people may be found speaking of a remarkable occurrence as ‘Quite a phenomenon’. |
† 4. That which appears or seems to a person to be the correct view; one's (own) notion, opinion, or theory.
Obs. rare.
| 1677 Gale Crt. Gentiles II. iii. 21 Self love produceth in us al a fond conceit of and regard unto our own phænomena and principles. Ibid. 22 Dogmatising opiniatretie, which makes men to abandon Truth for the preservation of their own Phænomena. |