Standard Lemma guide

incidence

noun · 9 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈɪn.sɪ.dəns/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Nueva Jersey Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • homophone: incidents (some accents)
  • CMU ARPABET: IH1 N S AH0 D AH0 N S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: IH1 N S IH0 D AH0 N S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The act of something happening; occurrence.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The extent or the relative frequency of something happening.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

The manner of falling; bearing or onus, as of a tax that falls unequally.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

The striking of radiation or a projectile upon a surface.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: natural-sciences, physical-sciences, physics

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

A measure of the rate of new occurrence of a given medical condition in a population within a specified period of time.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: epidemiology, medicine, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

The falling of a point on a line, or a line on a plane.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: geometry, mathematics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

noun

Meaning 7

The relation between an edge of a graph and one of the vertices it connects.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: graph-theory, mathematics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

noun

Meaning 8

the striking of a light beam on a surface

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he measured the angle of incidence of the reflected light

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: optical phenomenon

9

noun

Meaning 9

the relative frequency of occurrence of something

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: relative incidence

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: frequency, relative frequency

Narrower terms: morbidity

History

Etymology

From Middle French incidence, from Medieval Latin incidentia (“a falling upon”), from Latin incidens, present participle of incidere (“to fall upon”), from in (“on”) + cadere (“to fall”).

Across languages

Translations

28 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: случване (slučvane) — act of something happening
  • Finnish: tapahtuma — act of something happening
  • Finnish: tapaus — act of something happening
  • German: Auftreten — act of something happening
  • German: Vorkommen — act of something happening
  • Hebrew: מקרה (mikré) — act of something happening
  • Hungarian: előfordulás — act of something happening
  • Spanish: incidencia — act of something happening
  • Finnish: esiintymistiheys — extent, or the relative frequency of something happening
  • German: Auftretenshäufigkeit — extent, or the relative frequency of something happening
  • Hebrew: מידה (midá) — extent, or the relative frequency of something happening
  • Russian: инциде́нтность (incidéntnostʹ) — extent, or the relative frequency of something happening
  • Swedish: incidens — extent, or the relative frequency of something happening
  • Finnish: kohdistuminen — manner of falling; bearing or onus, as of a tax
  • Bulgarian: падане (padane) — striking of radiation or a projectile upon a surface
  • Esperanto: alfalo — striking of radiation or a projectile upon a surface
  • Finnish: kohtaaminen — striking of radiation or a projectile upon a surface
  • Finnish: kohdistuminen — striking of radiation or a projectile upon a surface
  • Finnish: osuminen — striking of radiation or a projectile upon a surface
  • Irish: ionsaitheacht — striking of radiation or a projectile upon a surface
  • Russian: паде́ние (padénije) — striking of radiation or a projectile upon a surface
  • Chinese Mandarin: 發病率 /发病率 (fābìnglǜ) — epidemiology: measure of the rate of new occurrence of a given medical condition
  • Chinese Mandarin: 發生率 /发生率 (fāshēnglǜ) — epidemiology: measure of the rate of new occurrence of a given medical condition
  • Danish: incidens — epidemiology: measure of the rate of new occurrence of a given medical condition
  • Finnish: ilmaantuvuus — epidemiology: measure of the rate of new occurrence of a given medical condition
  • German: Inzidenz — epidemiology: measure of the rate of new occurrence of a given medical condition
  • Kazakh: аурушаңдық (auruşañdyq) — epidemiology: measure of the rate of new occurrence of a given medical condition
  • Finnish: kuuluminen — geometry: falling of a point on a line, or a line on a plane
Real reading context

incidence in complete knowledge articles