advent

Everyday

1. (church) Advent is the season of about four weeks before Christmas, when Christians get ready to celebrate Jesus' birth and wait for his coming again. tree →
2. (formal) The advent of something is its arrival or beginning, as in "the advent of the internet". tree →

In the lessons

Children open an advent calendar door each day, often with a chocolate. Churches light the candles of an advent wreath, one more each Sunday. In history writing, "the advent of trains changed travel". Phrases: advent calendar, advent wreath, the first Sunday of Advent, the advent of something.

Examples

• I open a door in my Advent calendar every morning. tree →
• We lit the second candle on the Advent wreath. tree →
• Advent is a time of waiting and getting ready. tree →
• With the advent of mobile phones, fewer people wrote letters. tree →
• The church is decorated in purple during Advent. tree →
• The Advent carol service was by candlelight. tree →
• Eos, the Dawn, like her brother Helios, whose advent she always announced, was also deified by the early Greeks. tree →

Note

Capital A for the church season; small a for the formal sense. Uncountable. Related: adventure (from the same Latin root "come to"), but different meaning.