happen
Americanverb (used without object)
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happens,
present (3rd person singular)
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happened,
past participle, past
-
happening
present participle
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to take place; come to pass; occur.
Something interesting is always happening in New York.
- Synonyms:
- betide
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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.
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to befall, as to a person or thing.
Something dreadful has happened to me.
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to meet or discover by chance (usually followed by on orupon ).
to happen on a clue to a mystery.
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to be, come, go, etc., casually or by chance.
My friend happened along.
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Slang. to be very exciting or interesting.
That party was happening!
verb
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(intr) (of an event in time) to come about or take place; occur
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(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
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(tr) to chance (to be or do something)
I happen to know him
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(tr; takes a clause as object) to be the case, esp if by chance, that
it happens that I know him
adverb
Usage
What is a basic definition of happen? Happen means to occur, to come to pass by chance, or to befall someone or something. Happen has several other senses as a verb. Happen is a very general word that simply means to occur or take place. For example, the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln happened on April 15, 1865. That date is when this event took place.
- Real-life examples: Halloween happens on October 31. Scientists run experiments to see what happens. Nobody knows what will happen in the future. History is a record of what happened in the past.
- Used in a sentence: The police blocked off the street where the car accident happened.
- Used in a sentence: Joe happened to be standing in the exact spot where the water balloon landed.
- Used in a sentence: Sherri was terrified that something horrible had happened to her kitten.
- Used in a sentence: Summer is usually busy with happenings like beach parties. Summertime is happening!
Synonym Usage
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.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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happensimple
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happenssimple
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have happenedperfect
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has happenedperfect
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am happeningprogressive
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are happeningprogressive
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is happeningprogressive
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have been happeningperfect progressive
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has been happeningperfect progressive
Past
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happenedsimple
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had happenedperfect
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was happeningprogressive
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were happeningprogressive
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had been happeningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of happen
First recorded in 1300–50, happen is from the Middle English word hap(pe)nen. See hap 1, -en 1
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:
They’ve been a strong partner of the tenant protections that I helped pass and were a huge voice for charter reform, including some of the things that didn’t happen.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026
"It will not happen overnight, but we will build a railway the country can trust and rely on and that will create growth, jobs and homes."
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
Faux, who has been covering the currency much longer than I have, told me he has “given up predicting what’s going to happen to Bitcoin’s price.”
From Slate ● Sep. 20, 2026
But his appointment also tells us what Buffett fears could happen to Berkshire without him.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
What would happen if she never made it to the Afterlife?
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
One final bit of geekery that can help us understand whether bond yields are up for good reasons or bad is what happens to stocks when yields rise.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
Study co-author Professor James Murphy said the discovery revealed a 'smoldering' molecular problem and encouraged the researchers to focus more closely on what happens at the beginning of the disease process.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026
Eyewitness accounts can restore the missing parts of the story, including what happens afterward.
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026
"For us, for all the other women. How many other bodies will be found before something happens?"
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
“No matter what happens, don’t let go. The tree is your friend and will help you stay above the water.”
From "Earthquake Terror" by Peg Kehret
Bass: How do I think it happened that I was out of the country?
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026
The ball happened to be in the hands of their crunch-time specialist, a do-everything quarterback named Trinidad Chambliss.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
Bass: It happened in the city and in the county, that there were warnings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026
An inquest examining what happened to Maddy Cusack, who was 27 when she was found unconscious at her home in Derbyshire, started in June and should've finished in July.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
But when things I said would happen actually happened, she started to come around.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
This is not currently happening in the U.S., but since it has devastated other countries, I was eager to speak with someone who had experienced that worst-case scenario firsthand.
From Slate ● Sep. 20, 2026
Phobos is unusual not only because of its mysterious past, but also because of what is happening to it today.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026
But no part of Saturday’s road effort felt satisfying while it was happening.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
If humanity doesn’t exist on a binary, perhaps the emphasis shouldn’t always be on trying to see eye to eye; otherwise, no one can take a clear look at what’s happening in the periphery.
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026
She also usually messages me all day, but she’s been quiet, and I’m scared because I don’t understand what’s happening, but I’m sure that something’s wrong.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
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.
