Both Uses of
phenomenon
in
White Noise, by Don DeLillo
- The chairman, Alfonse Stompanato, seemed to feel that one of the other instructors, a three-hundred-pound former rock 'n' roll bodyguard named Dimitrios Cotsakis, had established prior right by having flown to Memphis when the King died, interviewed members of the King's entourage and family, been inter viewed himself on local television as an Interpreter of the Phenomenon.†
Part 1phenomenon = something that exists or happened -- often of special interest
- She did Patti as a child-hero in a contemporary movie, the only person on screen who is unawed by mysterious throbbing phenomena.†
Part 2 *phenomena = things that exists or happened -- often of special interest
Definitions:
-
(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.
-
(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.