befall

[ bih-fawl ]
See synonyms for befall on Thesaurus.com
verb (used without object),be·fell, be·fall·en, be·fall·ing.
  1. to happen or occur.

  2. Archaic. to come, as by right.

verb (used with object),be·fell, be·fall·en, be·fall·ing.
  1. to happen to, especially by chance or fate.

Origin of befall

1
before 900; Middle English befallen,Old English befeallan.See be-, fall (v.)

Other words for befall

Words Nearby befall

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

How to use befall in a sentence

  • The prophets have spoken in the wind, and there was no word of God in them: these things therefore shall befall them.

  • Into Tressan's mind there sprang the memory of the thing Garnache had promised should befall him in such a case.

    St. Martin's Summer | Rafael Sabatini
  • But I am come to teach thee what things shall befall thy people in the latter days, for as yet the vision is for days.

  • His simple little heart is filled with a sense of the catastrophes that befall the great and strong.

  • Something might befall this untrained citizen at any hour,—then where would the future of the Kano name be found?

    The Dragon Painter | Mary McNeil Fenollosa

British Dictionary definitions for befall

befall

/ (bɪˈfɔːl) /


verb-falls, -falling, -fell or -fallen archaic, or literary
  1. (intr) to take place; come to pass

  2. (tr) to happen to

  1. (intr usually foll by to) to be due, as by right

Origin of befall

1
Old English befeallan; related to Old High German bifallan, Dutch bevallen; see be-, fall

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