Definition of "happen"

happen

/ˈhæpən/

verb
third-person singular simple present happens, present participle happening, simple past and past participle happened
1. (intransitive) To occur or take place.
  Quotations
  Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic who still resists the idea that something drastic needs to happen for him to turn his life around.
  2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21
2. (transitive, archaic) To happen to; to befall.
  Quotations
  'By my soul! I believe something bad has happened me,' he muttered, and popped up his window, and looked out, half dreaming over the church-yard on the park beyond […]
  1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard
3. (intransitive or impersonal, with infinitive) To do or occur by chance or unexpectedly.
4. (followed by on or upon) To encounter by chance.
  Quotations
  Unexpectedly, in a nook close by the farmhouse, he happened upon a spot where the vintage had actually commenced.
  1860, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter 30, in The Marble Faun
5. (informal) To become popular or trendy.
adverb
not comparable
1. (obsolete or dialect) maybe, perhaps.
  Quotations
  Yeah, well happen if he'd gone quietly, she wouldn't have needed to show him who's in charge.
  2016, Sally Wainwright, Happy Valley, spoken by Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire), Manchester: Red Production Company; distributed by BBC Studios, published 2016

Definition of "happen"

happen

verb

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

adverb

Quotations