happen

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Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈhæpən/

Verb

happen (happens, present participle happening; past and past participle happened)

1. (intransitive) To occur or take place.

   Synonyms: come to pass, Thesaurus:happen

   Let me tell you how it happened.

2. (transitive, archaic) To happen to; to befall.
3. (intransitive or impersonal, with infinitive) To do or occur by chance or unexpectedly.

   Take an umbrella in case it happens to rain.

   Do you happen to have an umbrella?

   I happened to get wet.

4. (followed by on or upon) To encounter by chance.
   • 1860, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun, ch. 30:

     Unexpectedly, in a nook close by the farmhouse, he happened upon a spot where the vintage had actually commenced.

Related terms

• happening
• happenstance

Translations

• French: arriver, se produire, se passer, advenir
• German: geschehen, passieren, stattfinden
• Italian: accadere, succedere, occorrere
• Portuguese: acontecer, suceder
• Russian: происходи́ть
• Spanish: suceder, ocurrir, pasar

Adverb

happen (not comparable)

1. (, obsolete or dialect) maybe, perhaps.

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