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Event vs Contretemps - What's the difference?

event | contretemps |

As nouns the difference between event and contretemps

is that event is an occurrence; something that happens while contretemps is an unforeseen, inopportune, or embarrassing event; a hitch.

event

English

(wikipedia event)

Noun

(en noun)
  • An occurrence; something that happens.
  • * Macaulay
  • the events of his early years
  • An end result; an outcome (now chiefly in phrases).
  • *, II.3.3:
  • hard beginnings have many times prosperous events  […].
  • * 1707 , , by Eccles and Congrieve; scene 8
  • Of my ill boding Dream / Behold the dire Event .
  • * Young
  • dark doubts between the promise and event
    In the event , he turned out to have what I needed anyway.
  • (physics) A point in spacetime having three spatial coordinates and one temporal coordinate.
  • (computing) A possible action that the user can perform that is monitored by an application or the operating system (event listener). When an event occurs an event handler is called which performs a specific task.
  • (probability theory) A set of some of the possible outcomes; a subset of the sample space.
  • If X is a random variable representing the toss of a six-sided die, then its sample space could be denoted as {1,2,3,4,5,6}. Examples of events could be: X = 1, X = 2, X \ge 5, X \not = 4, and X \isin \{1,3,5\}.
  • (obsolete) An affair in hand; business; enterprise.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Leave we him to his events .
  • (lb) An episode of severe health conditions.
  • Derived terms

    * blessed event * credit event * current events * doomsday event * eventful * event horizon * eventless * eventual * in the event * K-T extinction event * media event * quick time event * risk event * sentinel event * social event * speciation event * to be wise after the event

    contretemps

    English

    Noun

    (contretemps)
  • An unforeseen, inopportune, or embarrassing event; a hitch
  • (fencing) An ill-timed pass.
  • Quotations

    * 1896 - *: "I see that you are a born American citizen--and an earlier knowledge of that fact would have prevented this little contretemps . You are aware, Mr. Hoffman, that your name is German?" * 1934 - , chapter 12 *: What a strange contretemps'! Its suddenness left me temporarily speechless; the embarrassment of Duare was only too obvious. Yet it was that unusual paradox, a happy ' contretemps --for me at least. * 1960 - " Is Dead Here at 86; Writer was Arbiter of Etiquette", New York Times , September 27 *: Mrs. Post was the center of a notable contretemps when she spilled a spoonful of berries at a dinner of the Gourmet Society here in 1938. * 2004 - Sunday Oregonian , June 13 *: It won't rank with the doping scandals in track and field and baseball's steroid controversy but the Rose Cup race had its own little contretemps last year.

    Synonyms

    * (unforeseen or embarrassing event) hitch, mishap