occur
Americanverb (used without object)
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occurs,
present (3rd person singular)
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occurred,
past participle, past
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occurring
present participle
verb
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to happen; take place; come about
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to be found or be present; exist
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(foll by to) to be realized or thought of (by); suggest itself (to)
Usage
It is usually regarded as incorrect to talk of pre-arranged events occurring or happening : the wedding took place (not occurred or happened ) in the afternoon
Synonym Usage
See happen.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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occursimple
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occurssimple
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have occurredperfect
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has occurredperfect
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am occurringprogressive
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are occurringprogressive
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is occurringprogressive
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have been occurringperfect progressive
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has been occurringperfect progressive
Past
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occurredsimple
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had occurredperfect
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was occurringprogressive
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were occurringprogressive
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had been occurringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of occur
First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin occurrere “to run to meet, arrive, meet,” equivalent to oc- oc- + currere “to run”
Explanation
Use the verb occur when an event or a thought happens, like when it occurs to you that you've left home without your umbrella. Maybe you didn't hear the forecast that showers would occur this afternoon. The verb occur comes from the Latin, occurrere, “to meet” or “to present itself.” When something occurs, it comes into being, like a thought that seems to present itself from out of the blue, like when it suddenly occurs to you that you forgot to ask your guests if they'd like a cup of tea, or that it would never occur to your Mother that some people spend a small fortune on handbags. Events can also occur, meaning "take place," like a meeting that will occur tomorrow.
Vocabulary lists containing occur
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Make a Run for It: Cur, Curs
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Common Five-letter Words for Wordle, List 4
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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:
At a launch event on Tuesday, Sir David said: "When I narrated the first Blue Planet series, it didn't occur to me that I would be narrating a third series in my centennial year."
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
Silica-poor disks, however, occur around stars spanning a much wider range of ages and tend to show stronger changes in brightness.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 7, 2026
Exposure can occur any time saliva or tissue from the infected animal enters the body, such as through a bite or a scratch, or contact with a wound or the mouth, nose or eyes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
Plague is a bacterial disease that can occur in several forms, including pneumonic plague, which is the most contagious type and can be transmitted by respiratory means.
From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026
“Based on my research so far, most reported sightings occur on dark, foggy nights.”
From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy
When such a collision occurs, the quark and Z boson should fly away from each other in opposite directions.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026
Do we miss out on exciting wet-weather racing because an overly cautious approach is applied when rain occurs prior to the start of the race?
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
That does, however, mean that a key spoiler for the film, which occurs about 40 minutes into its runtime, is just ahead.
From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2026
Boeing on Friday added that it was working to formalize a procedure with airlines that would allow pilots to restore automated flight guidance in case the glitch occurs.
From Barron's ● Oct. 3, 2026
“How did you reach me? Or are you—” A different idea occurs to me.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
The so-called Beast from the East in 2018 actually occurred during a La Niña year, effectively the opposite of El Niño.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
Instead, the largest increases occurred around predictable events such as keeper arrivals and times when the animals were moved between areas of their habitat.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 7, 2026
Making his first film outside Romania, Mungiu had been intrigued by the 2015 case, visiting the Norwegian town where the incident occurred and speaking to family members, judges and journalists.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
Ms. Hazoutte argues that no demolitions should have occurred until the conclusion of a “national inquiry.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
“But it never occurred to me to learn how!” she said.
From "Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer" by Kelly Jones
But it said because some of these figures date back nearly a decade it was not possible to be absolutely certain or conclude over-diagnosis was currently occurring at scale.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
In 1969, moments before the historic Apollo 11 Moon landing, an onboard computer raised an alarm, signalling an error was occurring.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
The approach not only reversed naturally occurring cartilage loss in older animals, but also protected mice from developing arthritis after knee injuries similar to ACL tears in people.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026
Nardi found that these broader stretches of unusually warm water can continue for weeks or even months, with the marine heatwave occurring somewhere within that longer period.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 30, 2026
It was at this point that I understood that a tragedy was in the process of occurring.
From "Louisiana's Way Home" by Kate DiCamillo
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.
