Translation guide
In Japanese, 'major incident' is typically expressed with compound nouns combining words for 'big' or 'serious' with 'incident' or 'accident'. The most common and neutral term is 重大事故 (jūdai jiko), used for serious accidents. For broader events including crimes or scandals, 大事件 (daijiken) is common. In news or formal contexts, 重大インシデント (jūdai inshidento) may appear. Note that literal translations like 大きい事件 are unnatural.
Refers to a major accident, often involving injury, damage, or large-scale impact, such as transportation crashes, industrial accidents, or natural disasters.
A major accident occurred on the highway yesterday.
This factory has had several major accidents in the past.
Literally 'big accident'. Slightly less formal than 重大事故 but still common. Often used in headlines or casual speech.
Apparently there was a major accident at that intersection.
Means 'disaster' or 'tragedy', emphasizing the horrific nature. Used for catastrophic events with many casualties.
The plane crash turned into a major disaster.
Refers to a major incident that is not necessarily an accident, such as a crime, scandal, political upheaval, or noteworthy occurrence.
The most common term for a major incident or case, especially in crime, scandal, or sensational news. Can also be used hyperbolically.
The murder case became a nationwide major incident.
Formal version of 大事件, often used in legal or official contexts. Emphasizes seriousness.
Literally 'one big event', often used in dramatic or exaggerated contexts. Can mean 'a serious matter' or 'crisis'.
Refers to a significant disruption or breach in systems, often used in corporate or technical contexts.
Common in IT service management (ITIL) and corporate risk management. Refers to a major incident requiring urgent response.
The system failure was treated as a major incident.
Emphasizes the scale of the incident. Used for large-scale security breaches or outages.
Do not directly translate 'major incident' as 大きい事件 (ōkii jiken) or 主要な事件 (shuyōna jiken). These sound unnatural. Use the compound nouns above.
That was a big incident. (unnatural)
That was a major incident. (natural)
事故 (jiko) is used for accidents (unintentional), while 事件 (jiken) is used for incidents, cases, or events (often involving human action or crime). Choose based on the nature of the incident.
ちょっとしたことで大事件のように騒ぐな。
Don't make a big deal out of something trivial.
The police are investigating this as a major incident.
It's a major incident that he's quitting.
A major incident occurred and customer data was leaked.