occasion

noun

1 she consulted him on a number of occasions:

instance, time, moment, juncture, point;

event, happening, occurrence, affair, incident, episode, experience, situation, case, circumstance.

2 the perfect venue for a special occasion | family occasions such as weddings:

social event, event, affair, function, celebration, party, ceremony, get-together, gathering;

informal do, bash;

British, informal rave-up, thrash, knees-up, jolly, beanfeast, bunfight, beano, lig.

3 I doubt if the occasion will arise:

opportunity, suitable/opportune time, right moment, chance, opening, window.

4 it's the first time I've had occasion to complain:

reason, cause, call, grounds, justification, need, necessity, requirement, excuse, pretext, stimulus, inducement, provocation, motive.

verb

her situation occasioned a good deal of sympathy:

cause, give rise to, bring about, result in, lead to, prompt, provoke, evoke, elicit, call forth, produce, create, arouse, make (for), generate, engender, originate, effect, bring on, induce, precipitate, stir up, inspire, spark off, trigger, breed;

literary beget;

rare effectuate.

□ on occasion

occasionally, sometimes, from time to time, (every) now and then, (every) now and again, at times, every so often, (every) once in a while, on occasions, on the odd occasion, periodically, at intervals, irregularly, sporadically, spasmodically, infrequently, intermittently, on and off, off and on;

archaic ever and anon.

▷antonyms often, frequently.