Library / English Dictionary

ADVENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Arrival that has been awaited (especially of something momentous)

Example:

the advent of the computer

Synonyms:

advent; coming

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("advent" is a kind of...):

arrival; reaching (accomplishment of an objective)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(Christian theology) the reappearance of Jesus as judge for the Last Judgment

Synonyms:

Advent; Parousia; Second Advent; Second Coming; Second Coming of Christ

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Instance hypernyms:

manifestation (a clear appearance)

Domain category:

Christian theology (the teachings of Christian churches)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The season including the four Sundays preceding Christmas

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Hypernyms ("Advent" is a kind of...):

season (a recurrent time marked by major holidays)

Meronyms (parts of "Advent"):

Advent Sunday (the first of the four Sundays during Advent)

Holonyms ("Advent" is a part of...):

church calendar; ecclesiastical calendar (a calendar of the Christian year indicating the dates of fasts and festivals)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Vague shapes swirled and swam amid the dark cloud-bank, each a menace and a warning of something coming, the advent of some unspeakable dweller upon the threshold, whose very shadow would blast my soul.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Great, however, was the excitement through town and district when it was learned that on the third Wednesday in Advent there would be held a passage-at-arms in which five knights of England would hold the lists against all comers.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I felt rather timid and apprehensive, for she had come to search Humphrey Van Weyden’s soul, and Humphrey Van Weyden had nothing of which to be particularly proud since his advent on the Ghost.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)