happening

[hap-uh-ning]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR happening ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

something that happens; occurrence; event.

an unconventional dramatic or artistically orchestrated performance, often a series of discontinuous events involving audience participation.

any event considered worthwhile, unusual, or interesting.

Origin of happening

1545–55; 1965–70 for def 2; happen + -ing¹

Synonyms for happening

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR happening ON THESAURUS.COM

1. incident, episode, instance, affair, case.

happen

[hap-uhn]

verb (used without object)

to take place; come to pass; occur: Something interesting is always happening in New York.

to come to pass by chance; occur without apparent reason or design: Don't ask me what caused it—it just happened, that's all.

to have the fortune or lot (to do or be as specified); chance: I happened to see him on the street.

to befall, as to a person or thing: Something dreadful has happened to me.

to meet or discover by chance (usually followed by on or upon): to happen on a clue to a mystery.

to be, come, go, etc., casually or by chance: My friend happened along.

Slang. to be very exciting or interesting: That party was happening!

Origin of happen

First recorded in 1300–50, happen is from the Middle English word hap(pe)nen. See hap¹, -en¹

Synonyms for happen

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR happen ON THESAURUS.COM

1. betide. Happen, chance, occur refer to the taking place of an event. Happen, which originally denoted the taking place by hap or chance, is now the most general word for coming to pass: Something has happened. Chance suggests the accidental nature of an event: It chanced to rain that day. Occur is often interchangeable with happen, but is more formal, and is usually more specific as to time and event: His death occurred the following year.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for happening

accident, proceeding, phenomenon, circumstance, incident, adventure, milestone, case, affair, episode, scene, experience, thing, chance, go, occasion, event

Examples from the Web for happening

Contemporary Examples of happening

In this war, the targeting is often happening on computer monitors thousands of miles away, capturing images from drones.
Pentagon Doesn’t Know How Many People It’s Killed in the ISIS War
Nancy A. Youssef
January 7, 2015
And that may well be what is happening in the Barnett Shale region around, yes, Dallas and Irving.
26 Earthquakes Later, Fracking’s Smoking Gun Is in Texas
James Joiner
January 7, 2015
Make no mistake: The technology exists—has existed for a long while—to stop this from happening.
Red Tape and Black Boxes: Why We Keep ‘Losing’ Airliners in 2014
Clive Irving
December 29, 2014
“When Tanveer realized what was happening, he jumped out of the truck, but the Iranians shot him,” Abdullah says.
The Dangerous Drug-Funded Secret War Between Iran and Pakistan
Umar Farooq
December 29, 2014
Just being able to be in the loop when something is happening, it just works.
Anastasia Ashley, Surfer-Cum-Model, Rides The Viral Internet Wave
James Joiner
December 23, 2014

Historical Examples of happening

What might not be happening to Corney, she thought, while she was on the way to his rescue!
Weighed and Wanting
George MacDonald
Sidney's heart, considering what was happening to it, behaved very well.
K
Mary Roberts Rinehart
Linda could not tell what was happening from the murmur of voices.
Her Father's Daughter
Gene Stratton-Porter
As soon as Lloyd began to realize what was happening, her face grew radiant.
The Little Colonel
Annie Fellows Johnston
Comrade Ossipon had no settled conception now of what was happening to him.
The Secret Agent
Joseph Conrad

British Dictionary definitions for happening

happening

noun

an occurrence; event

an improvised or spontaneous display or performance consisting of bizarre and haphazard events

adjective

informal fashionable and up-to-the-minute

happen

verb

(intr) (of an event in time) to come about or take place; occur

(intr foll by to) (of some unforeseen circumstance or event, esp death), to fall to the lot (of); be a source of good or bad fortune (to)if anything happens to me, it'll be your fault

(tr) to chance (to be or do something)I happen to know him

(tr; takes a clause as object) to be the case, esp if by chance, thatit happens that I know him

adverb, sentence substitute

Northern English dialect

another word for perhaps
(as sentence modifier)happen I'll see thee tomorrow

Word Origin for happen

C14: see hap 1, -en 1

xref

See occur

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

Word Origin and History for happening

mid-15c., "chance, luck," from present participle of happen; meaning "occurrence" is 1550s. Sense of "spontaneous event or display" is from 1959 in the argot of artists. Happenings "events" was noted by Fowler as a vogue word from c.1905.

happen

c.1300, "to come to pass, occur," originally "occur by hap, to have the (good or bad) fortune (to do, be, etc.);" see hap (n.). Replaced Old English gelimpan, gesceon, and Middle English befall. In Middle English fel it hap meant "it happened." Related: Happened; happening.