occidental

[ ok-si-den-tl ]

adjective
  1. (usually initial capital letter) of, relating to, or characteristic of the Occident or its natives and inhabitants.

noun
  1. (usually initial capital letter) a native or inhabitant of the Occident.

Origin of occidental

1
1350–1400; Middle English <Latin occidentālis western, equivalent to occident- Occident + -ālis -al1

Other words from occidental

  • oc·ci·den·tal·i·ty, noun
  • oc·ci·den·tal·ly, adverb
  • non·oc·ci·den·tal, adjective
  • non·oc·ci·den·tal·ly, adverb
  • pseu·do·oc·ci·den·tal, adjective
  • un·oc·ci·den·tal, adjective
  • un·oc·ci·den·tal·ly, adverb

Words Nearby occidental

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use occidental in a sentence

  • My sole object has been to show Japan as she is, and to claim occidental sympathy to such a degree as she may deserve.

    A Fantasy of Far Japan | Baron Kencho Suyematsu
  • It must be remembered that these few Armenians were the only women with whom we could talk and laugh in occidental fashion.

    War in the Garden of Eden | Kermit Roosevelt
  • An occidental father and an Oriental head of a family are no longer really correlative terms.

    The Soul of the Far East | Percival Lowell
  • The oldest of beast-tales available for occidental children is the story of Reynard the Fox.

    Literature in the Elementary School | Porter Lander MacClintock
  • To the occidental stranger such a gathering suggests some social loadstone; but none exists.

    The Soul of the Far East | Percival Lowell

British Dictionary definitions for occidental (1 of 2)

occidental

/ (ˌɒksɪˈdɛntəl) /


adjective
  1. a literary or formal word for western Compare oriental

British Dictionary definitions for Occidental (2 of 2)

Occidental

/ (ˌɒksɪˈdɛntəl) sometimes not capital /


adjective
  1. of or relating to the Occident

noun
  1. an inhabitant, esp a native, of the Occident

Derived forms of Occidental

  • Occidentalism, noun
  • Occidentalist, noun, adjective
  • Occidentally, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012