Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To come to pass.
- intransitive verb To come about as a consequence; result.
- intransitive verb To be the fate; become.
- intransitive verb To encounter something by chance.
- intransitive verb To come or go casually; make an appearance.
- intransitive verb Used with the impersonal subject it and a following clause or infinitive to indicate the occurrence of a usually unexpected or chance event.
- intransitive verb To have the fortune (to be or do something); be in a situation or position (to be or do something).
- intransitive verb Used with an infinitive to make polite requests.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Possibly; perhaps.
- To occur by chance; occur unexpectedly or unaccountably; in general, to occur; take place.
- To chance; be by chance or unexpectedly: as, he happened to be at home.
- Fortunate; happy; blessed.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To come by chance; to come without previous expectation; to fall out.
- intransitive verb To take place; to occur.
- intransitive verb to meet with; to fall or light upon.
- intransitive verb [Colloq.] to make a casual call.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To
occur ortake place . - verb To
occur unexpectedly, by chance or with a low probability. - verb To
encounter by chance . - adverb
maybe ,perhaps .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb come to pass
- verb chance to be or do something, without intention or causation
- verb come into being; become reality
- verb happen, occur, or be the case in the course of events or by chance
- verb come upon, as if by accident; meet with
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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We Americans show very little care about atrocities that happen *as they happen*, and even less once they are past.
The Volokh Conspiracy » Why the Neglect of Communist Crimes Matters 2009
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Sub-junctive_; which may or may not happen, hence introduced by an _if_, equal to _gif_, _give_, _grant_, _provided it so happen_.
Continental Monthly , Vol. 5, No. 6, June, 1864 Devoted to Literature and National Policy Various
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I cannot think of a more dangerous situation to be allowed to happen is to allow shooting at night!
Hurteau: Nebraska Deer-Control Bill Favors Frightening Free-For-All 2010
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What needs to happen is tort reform and portability.
Matthew Yglesias » Lincoln Slams Mythical Liberal Extremists 2010
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What maybe needs to happen is to say that our next war is on our sad infrastructure.
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I cannot think of a more dangerous situation to be allowed to happen is to allow shooting at night!
Hurteau: Nebraska Deer-Control Bill Favors Frightening Free-For-All 2010
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The only thing we will be sure to happen is to have a new president of the electoral commission, he said.
Guinea Announces 24 October Date for Presidential Run-Off Vote 2010
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The very last thing I want to happen is to not meet their expectations.
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What needs to happen is to have consumers write and visit their lawmakers regularly.
Maryland wine shipping rides a wave of support–and pessimism | Dr Vino's wine blog 2010
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Oh, right – tell me that this country wants to revert back to the days of GWB – and the destruction of the constitution = what really needs to happen is to elminate republicans from any elective office – even congressmen/women who possibly aare really republicans in disguise.
sarra commented on the word happen
'That is so' (''appen it is'). Yorkshire dialect.
June 22, 2009