befall
Americanverb (used without object)
-
to happen or occur.
- Synonyms:
- chance, materialize, betide, ensue, bechance
-
Archaic. to come, as by right.
verb (used with object)
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
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A Midsummer Night's Dream
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ACT Vocabulary List
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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:
"We wake up wondering what new disaster is going to befall Auroville," its French-language magazine declared in December.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
With head-scratching lyrics like, “Why should a land have so much meaning when dark times befall it? It’s just a land made of dirt and rock,” they confuse far more than they entertain.
From Salon ● Nov. 21, 2025
In the wake of 9/11, when many feared and no one knew what might befall us, he helped harden the country and prevent attacks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2025
It’s not the first calamity to befall the family in the West Bank.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2025
“The negotiations are over. One way or another she will be returned to her kind. No harm will befall Captain Short. You have my word.”
From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer
Money is a form of the “resource curse” that befalls many producers of oil and other vital commodities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2025
Now imagine a great tragedy befalls one province.
From Salon ● Jan. 16, 2025
When a crisis befalls a small circle of closed-minded leaders, they tend to react with strategic and often self-destructive recklessness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 11, 2023
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
Without clear succession planning, Xi also risks the fate that befell Stalin and Mao, whose deaths in office unleashed struggles for power that ended up unraveling their political visions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 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
“And”—Benefo raises his voice—“I, for some reason, decided to marry Osei. Alas, tragedy befell me.”
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
Initially, police had treated it as a tragic accident that had befallen one of Spain's wealthiest individuals.
From BBC ● May 20, 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 The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 17, 2025
"This is a devastating tragedy that has befallen the Reiner family," he said.
From Barron's ● Dec. 17, 2025
Ser Mallador Locke would strike for the Shadow Tower, hoping to pick up Qhorin's trail and learn what had befallen him.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
It doesn’t help that a rainstorm of biblical proportions is befalling Chicago.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
If we speak about 1929 perhaps we believe we will avoid a similar fate befalling us.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 20, 2025
The statement is hollow so long as people still can stake their dollars on the calamities befalling everyday Angelenos.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 10, 2025
That defeat would have paled when set beside the one that looked like befalling Scotland now.
From BBC ● Feb. 3, 2024
It's possible she actually prevented another tragedy from befalling our family.
From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi
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.
