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

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See Examples For:

happen on

Did anything noteworthy happen on the Democratic side?

From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026

In the Austrian Alps, roughly three out of four hiking accidents happen on the descent.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 16, 2026

“People are paying more attention to athlete stories in anticipation of what’s going to happen on U.S. soil.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2026

"Obviously I would love to have that happen on home soil," said Hodgkinson, discussing where she would ideally set the record this summer.

From BBC ● May 29, 2026

I believed that if there was any chance to bring my mother back home it would happen on her birthday.

From "Walk Two Moons" by Sharon Creech

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