Definition of "phenomenon"

The year 1866 was signalised by a remarkable incident, a mysterious and inexplicable phenomenon, which doubtless no one has yet forgotten.

1873, Jules Verne, chapter I, in [anonymous], transl., Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas; […], James R. Osgood edition, Boston, Mass.: Geo[rge] M[urray] Smith & Co., part I, page 3

The Indians, making a hasty inference from a trivial phenomenon, arrived unawares at a probably correct conclusion.

1900, Andrew Lang, chapter 1, in The Making of Religion

Hurricanes are a meteorological phenomenon.

2007 November 7, “Ask the Experts: Hurricanes”, in USA Today, retrieved 16 Jan. 2009

I verily believe that in the Moon there are no rains, for if Clouds should gather in any part thereof, as they do about the Earth, they would thereupon hide from our sight some of those things, which we with the Telescope behold in the Moon, and in a word, would some way or other change its Phœnomenon.

1662, Thomas Salusbury, transl., Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief Systems of the World, First Day

The phenomenon of a huge blazing fire, upon the opposite bank of the glen, again presented itself to the eye of the watchman. . He resolved to examine more nearly the object of his wonder.

1816, [Walter Scott], chapter 18, in The Antiquary. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown

"This, sir," said Mr Vincent Crummles, bringing the maiden forward, "this is the infant phenomenon—Miss Ninetta Crummles."

1838 March – 1839 October, Charles Dickens, chapter 23, in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1839

But, all the same, you're a phenomenon, and as queer a phenomenon as you are a blackguard.

1888, Rudyard Kipling, The Phantom Rickshaw

Every "phenomenon" must be, at any rate, partly subjective or dependent on the subject.

1900, S. Tolver Preston, “Comparison of Some Views of Spencer and Kant”, in Mind, volume 9, number 34, page 234

The Kantian phenomenon is the real as we are compelled to think it.

1912, Roy Wood Sellars, “Is There a Cognitive Relation?”, in The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods, volume 9, number 9, page 232