Happen
['hæp(ə)n] or ['hæpən]
Definition
(verb.) come to pass; 'What is happening?'; 'The meeting took place off without an incidence'; 'Nothing occurred that seemed important'.
(verb.) come into being; become reality; 'Her dream really materialized'.
(verb.) happen, occur, or be the case in the course of events or by chance; 'It happens that today is my birthday'; 'These things befell' (Santayana).
(verb.) chance to be or do something, without intention or causation; 'I happen to have just what you need!'.
Editor: Peter--From WordNet
Definition
(v. i.) To come by chance; to come without previous expectation; to fall out.
(v. i.) To take place; to occur.
Checked by Candy
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. n. Chance, occur, befall, betide, come, take place, turn up, fall out, come to pass.
Typed by Harley
Synonyms and Antonyms
[See LUCK_and_BEFALL]
Inputed by Evelyn
Examples
- I happen to know that he paid seven hundred pounds to a footman for a note two lines in length, and that the ruin of a noble family was the result. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- Don't let it happen again. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- But I bethought myself that I was in a boat, after all; and that a man like Mr. Peggotty was not a bad person to have on board if anything did happen. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- It can seldom happen that much can be spared from the circulating money of the country; because in that there can seldom be much redundancy. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- And if you should ever happen to hear anything said against father that is new to you, it will not be true. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- I was afraid to put it off till next day (the Friday); being in doubt lest some accident might happen in the interval. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- How did that happen, when she was in your secret? Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Ten minutes passed--and nothing happened. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- I will tell you it just as it happened, sir, said he. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- So it would seem it happened to Gautama. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- The same thing happened at each place where they stopped. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- That evening, of course, Celia knew nothing of what had happened. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- A great stone that I happened to find, after a long search, by the sea-shore, served me for an anchor. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- What had happened to India was very parallel to what had happened to Germany. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- It seldom happens, however, that a great proprietor is a great improver. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some most important business. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- This happens whenever information about the world is made an end in itself. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- He makes it too secure, as it happens. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- This happens to be a thoroughly Greek attitude. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- That is exactly what happens. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- We have all heard of certain animals sleeping through the long winter months and most of us have probably wondered what happens to them when they do this. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Never mind about 'happening,' Mr. Lorry. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- But to get a full picture of what is happening you cannot read only the party organ. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- But there were times even to the end when he was capable of realising what was happening to him in the present, the death that was on him. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- I suppose you have heard what's been happening to the beauty on the hill? Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- For an active participant in the war, it is clear that the momentous thing is the issue, the future consequences, of this and that happening. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- And Tom loves his children; and it's dreadful, papa, that such things are happening, all the time! Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- What do teachers imagine is happening to thought and emotion when the latter get no outlet in the things of immediate activity? John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
Edited by Clio