happen on

British

verb

(intr, preposition) to find by chance

I happened upon a five-pound note lying in the street

"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

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.

“It may happen on a case-by-case basis because an officer in and of himself has humanity,” he said.

From Salon • Mar. 24, 2026

But it’s not going to happen on her accounting clerk salary at Purina, let alone Floyd’s meager earnings.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 10, 2026

Updates to drone tech don’t happen on a timetable of years; in Ukraine, it’s every few weeks.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 25, 2026

Measurements and adjustments happen on nearly the same timescale as the fluctuations themselves, making the system roughly one hundred times faster than previously demonstrated.

From Science Daily • Feb. 20, 2026

“But tell me: What happened? You made it to the city, obviously. Did anything happen on your travels ? And what is it your friend had to return?”

From "When the Sea Turned to Silver" by Grace Lin

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023