Both Uses of
phenomenon
in
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
- As Scrooge looked fixedly at this phenomenon, it was a knocker again.
p. 15.7phenomenon = something seen that is of special interest
- Such a bustle ensued that you might have thought a goose the rarest of all birds; a feathered phenomenon, to which a black swan was a matter of course—and in truth it was something very like it in that house.
p. 70.7 *
Definitions:
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(1)
(phenomenon) something that exists or happened -- especially something of special interest -- sometimes someone or something that is extraordinary"Phenomenons" and "phenomena" are both appropriate plural forms of this noun. "Phenomena" is generally used in scientific or philosophical contexts.
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(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
In philosophy, a phenomenon is something as known through the senses. It is contrasted with a noumenon.