befall
Americanverb (used without object)
-
befalls,
present (3rd person singular)
-
befell,
past
-
befallen,
past participle
-
befalling
present participle
-
to happen or occur.
- Synonyms:
- chance, materialize, betide, ensue, bechance
-
Archaic. to come, as by right.
verb (used with object)
-
befalls,
present (3rd person singular)
-
befell,
past
-
befallen,
past participle
-
befalling
present participle
verb
-
(intr) to take place; come to pass
-
(tr) to happen to
-
to be due, as by right
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
befallsimple
-
befallssimple
-
have befallenperfect
-
has befallenperfect
-
am befallingprogressive
-
are befallingprogressive
-
is befallingprogressive
-
have been befallingperfect progressive
-
has been befallingperfect progressive
Past
-
befellsimple
-
had befallenperfect
-
was befallingprogressive
-
were befallingprogressive
-
had been befallingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of befall
before 900; Middle English befallen, Old English befeallan. See be-, fall (v.)
Explanation
Befall is an old-fashioned or literary way of saying something happened by chance. Bad luck befalls a heroine who drops her lucky rabbit foot. When something befalls you, it’s like bad luck falling on you. An earthquake can befall a city. A terrible disease could befall a child. A bolt of lightning could befall a very unlucky person. When something befalls you, you’re in trouble. Tragedies befall families in many of Shakespeare’s plays — that’s what makes them so much fun.
Vocabulary lists containing befall
Essential Academic Vocabulary for High School Students, List 1
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
ACT Vocabulary List
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It is the latest in a litany of disasters to befall one of the most benighted industrial cities in Europe, repeatedly blanketed in lethal smoke from similar blazes.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
For generations, the 103-year-old Catholic parish has been a beacon of solace and resistance for residents angry about the latest indignity to befall the historic heart of Latino Los Angeles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
Much is made about just how much Washington disliked sitting; he knew about Greek mythology and the fate that would befall any man who became absorbed in his own image.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
Jo's brother Jimmy said he "never imagined such a profound tragedy would ever befall our family".
From BBC ● Nov. 25, 2025
As a son of the South, Thomas Byrdsong knew all too well the consequences that might befall a black man who openly expressed his anger in front of white people.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
The cynic in me knows that, as surely as no Gutenberg protégé engraved this stationery, the happy accident of the extras befalls every customer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
Granted, I wouldn’t say that nobody cares about what Jackson did or Rowling is committed to doing, whether that harm befalls a few people or impacts entire populations.
From Salon ● May 14, 2026
Carthage’s deeper tragedy lies in the subsequent erasure of its history, language and culture, not in its physical destruction, which befalls all empires.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 11, 2026
A magnetic field around any of these structures would form a continuous tangent vector field, and at this point we know what befalls such hairy constructions.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 18, 2023
"Take my betrothed back to the castle, and see that no harm befalls her," the prince told him brusquely.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
As we near the end we get to a full account of the game itself, enlivened by quotes the players gave after the fact, and followed by chronicles of what befell the participants after 1933.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
This vast array of media professionals came no closer to uncovering what awful fate befell this poor 84-year-old woman.
From Slate ● Feb. 23, 2026
She will be desperate to avoid the disaster that befell hot men's favourite Ilia Malinin, who suffered a nightmare last week, slumping to an eighth-place finish.
From Barron's ● Feb. 17, 2026
The issue also befell the German team who won bronze in the biathlon.
From BBC ● Feb. 9, 2026
‘But first, it would ease my heart, Gandalf, to hear what befell you in Moria. Will you not tell us? Can you not stay even to tell your friends how you were delivered?’
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
Rodríguez, who could use the crisis to strengthen her hold on power, has highlighted the successes of the response while acknowledging the grave catastrophe that had befallen her country.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
In baseball, curses are no joking matter, and the Curse of the FTD Burger might now have befallen the team.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
The same fate could’ve easily befallen this movie, too.
From Salon ● May 1, 2026
"This is a devastating tragedy that has befallen the Reiner family," he said.
From Barron's ● Dec. 17, 2025
For all the terrible things that had befallen them in other seasons that they had endured, this was hardly such a great ask.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
She imagined something terrible befalling her, and her parents discovering her mounting credit-card bills.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
For someone who wept at seeing the modern Tatars enter Baghdad, the prospect of a similar fate befalling Tehran is more than a strategic policy shift.
From Salon ● Mar. 7, 2026
If we speak about 1929 perhaps we believe we will avoid a similar fate befalling us.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 20, 2025
That defeat would have paled when set beside the one that looked like befalling Scotland now.
From BBC ● Feb. 3, 2024
“Do not speak of ill befalling you,” Taran cried.
From "The Black Cauldron" by Lloyd Alexander
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
