Word forms: 3rd person singular presenttense happens, present participle happening, past tense, past participle happened
1. verb
Something that happens occurs or is done without being planned.
We cannot say for sure what will happen. [VERB]
The accident happened close to Martha's Vineyard. [VERB]
Synonyms: occur, take place, come about, follow More Synonyms of happen
2. verb
If something happens, it occurs as a result of a situation or course of action.
She wondered what would happen if her parents found her. [VERB]
He trotted to the truck and switched on the ignition. Nothing happened. [VERB]
3. verb
When something, especially something unpleasant, happens to you, it takes place and affects you.
If we had been spotted at that point, I don't know what would have happened to us. [VERB + to]
It's the best thing that ever happened to me. [VERBto noun]
Synonyms: befall, overtake, become of, betide More Synonyms of happen
4. verb
If you happento do something, you do it by chance. If ithappensthat something is the case, it occurs by chance.
We happened to discover we had a friend in common. [VERB to-infinitive]
I looked in the nearest paper, which happened to be the Daily Mail. [VERB to-infinitive]
If it happens that I'm wanted somewhere, my mother will take the call and let meknow. [VERB that]
Synonyms: chance, turn out [informal], have the fortune to be More Synonyms of happen
5.
See as it happens
happen in British English
(ˈhæpən)
verb
1. (intransitive)
(of an event in time) to come about or take place; occur
2. (intransitive; foll byto)
(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
3. (transitive)
to chance (to be or do something)
I happen to know him
4. (tr; takes a clause as object)
to be the case, esp if by chance, that
it happens that I know him
adverb, sentence substitute
5. Northern England dialect
a. another word for perhaps
b.
(as sentence modifier)
happen I'll see thee tomorrow
▶ USAGE See note at occur
Word origin
C14: see hap1, -en1
happen in American English
(ˈhæpən)
verb intransitive
1.
to take place; occur; befall
2.
to be or occur by chance or without plan
it happened to rain
3.
to have the luck or occasion; chance
I happened to see it
4.
to come by chance (along, by, in, etc.)
Idioms:
happen on
happen to
SYNONYMY NOTE: happen is the general word meaning to take place or come to pass and may suggest eitherdirect cause or apparent accident; , chance, more or less equivalent to , happen, always implies apparent lack of cause in the event; , occur is somewhat more formal and usually suggests a specific event at a specific time[what happened?, the accident occurred at four o'clock]; transpire is now frequently used as an equivalent for , happen or , occur [what transpired at the conference], apparently by confusion with its sense of to become known, or leak out [reports on the conference never transpired]
Word origin
ME happenen: see hap1 & -en
Examples of 'happen' in a sentence
happen
She has given me a key in case anything happens in the future.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Why should the same not happen again?
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Maybe it happens more often than we know.
Times, Sunday Times (2017)
You can see it happening because painting lifts you out of things.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
It wasn’t something that happened all the time.
Smithsonian Mag (2017)
Who knows what might happen in the future?
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
But there is a yawning gap in timing between what he would love to happen tomorrow and what is still the case.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
The formation of the unit happened almost by chance after the 2011 riots.
Times, Sunday Times (2017)
Yet something similar has happened in exceptional cases of hypothermia.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
That should not be allowed to happen again.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
You cannot see that happening this season.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
The people on our production lines make things happen.
The Sun (2013)
Who knows what would have happened had the chance been taken?
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
Was it payback for what happened at our place?
The Sun (2011)
You just wait for that moment in which something happens.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
They like fixes to happen by tomorrow afternoon because then they will still be in office.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
We know what happens when they are not.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
What happens in this case to the supply curve?
Miller, Roger LeRoy & Fishe, Raymond P. H. Microeconomics: Price Theory in Practice (1995)
Justice has not been done and we are worried it will happen again.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
Maybe what will happen in the past will stand us in good stead.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
We will have to wait and see what happens on that.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
Somewhere in his mind he thought the same thing was happening again.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
They weary themselves with worrying and exhaust us about things that have little chance of happening.
Christianity Today (2000)
This steamy natural cauldron is a place where chemistry happens in the open air.
Richard Fortey THE EARTH: An Intimate History (2004)
They will be more supportive if they know what is happening.
Trickett, Shirley Coming Off Tranquillizers and Sleeping Pills (1991)
What happened in these cases could easily happen now.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
How do we stop this happening again?
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Maybe these things happen abroad but not in this country.
The Sun (2008)
The doctor suggested going back to the full dosage to see what happened.
Trickett, Shirley Coming Off Tranquillizers and Sleeping Pills (1991)
Similar things are happening in a number of other business and product areas.
Redwood, John The Global Marketplace (1993)
In other languages
happen
British English: happen /ˈhæpn/ VERB
When something happens, it occurs or is done without being planned.