Violence incidents or violent incidents? [closed]

Both are correct and used, but if you check our good friend Gngrams, you'll find out that written texts give definite preference to violent incidents.

As for violence incidents, it is more likely to be used if violence is preceded by another modifier. See this article with the title

Victims' perceptions of police response to domestic violence incidents

from the Journal of Criminal Justice

On a medical oriented site I found this sentence:

This study examined differences between self-report and actual documentation of workplace violence (WPV) incidents in a cohort of health care workers.

I tried hard (but not "to the end") to find instances of "violence incidents" on its own, and had no success. So violent incidents or incidents of violence are the best options.


In broad terms,

  1. The construction an [adjective] [noun] means [a noun] that is [adjective].

Hence, if we use a real adjective and a real noun: violent incident, an incident that is violent / an incident whose state is violent.

  1. The construction A [noun1] [noun2] means a [noun2] that is associated in some way with [noun1]. Hence, if we use real nouns: A violence incident = an incident that is associated in some way with violence.

Adjective + noun is very common.

Noun1 noun2 is usually considered a compound noun and is often used as a term/name for a particular type of noun2. For example: Information Technology/The Language Department/dog collar, etc.