Meanings
present singular third person occurs · participle present occurring · participle past occurred · past occurred · alternative obsolete occurre
- intransitiveTo happen or take place.
The liftoff will occur in exactly twelve seconds.
1 more example
And no use for anyone to tell Charles that this was because the Family was in mourning for Mr Granville Darracott […]: Charles might only have been second footman at Darracott Place for a couple of months when that disaster occurred, but no one could gammon him into thinking that my lord cared a spangle for his heir.
1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown AjaxSynonyms: belimp
- impersonalTo come or be presented to the mind; to suggest itself.
It occurred to him to tell me of the problem.
2 more examples
One little incident of my school days occurs to me as amusing.
Apparently it never occurs to them that you can't make rapid, drastic changes in the technology and the economy of a society without causing rapid changes in all other aspects of the society as well, […]
1995, Theodore Kaczynski, Industrial Society and Its FutureSynonyms: hit
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo happen or take place.
verbTo come or be presented to the mind; to suggest itself.
More synonyms by meaning
verbcome to pass
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinoccurrō“run to meet, run against, befall, present itself”
- Middle Frenchoccurrer
- Englishoccur
Originally "meet (in argument)", borrowed from Middle French occurrer, from Latin occurrō (“run to meet, run against, befall, present itself”) from prefix ob- (“against”) + verb currō (“run, hurry, move”).
More words from Middle French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek τυγχάνω, συμφέρω
- τυγχάνω (tunkhánō)take place
- συμφέρω (sumphérō)take place
Arabic حَدَثَ, وَقَعَ
- حَدَثَ (ḥadaṯa)take place
- وَقَعَ (waqaʕa)take place
- طَرَأَ (ṭaraʔa)take place
Basque bururatu
- bururatutake place
Bulgarian слу́чвам се, слу́ча се
- слу́чвам се (slúčvam se)take place
- слу́ча се (slúča se)take place
- хру́мне (hrúmne)meet or come to the mind
- до́йде на ум (dójde na um)meet or come to the mind
- срещам се (sreštam se)be present or found
- намирам се (namiram se)be present or found
Catalan ocórrer
- ocórrertake place
Chinese Cantonese 發生 /发生
- 發生 /发生take place
Chinese Mandarin 發生 /发生
- 發生 /发生 (fāshēng)take place
Czech nastat, udát se
- nastattake place
- udát setake place
- stát setake place
- odehrát setake place
- dít setake place
- vyskytnout sepresent itself
- naskytnout sepresent itself
- napadnoutmeet or come to the mind
Danish forekomme
- forekommebe present or found
Dutch plaatsvinden, zich aanbieden
- plaatsvindentake place
- zich aanbiedenpresent itself
- zich voordoenpresent itself
- plaatsvindenpresent itself
- voorkomenpresent itself
- gebeurenpresent itself
- invallenmeet or come to the mind
- opkomenmeet or come to the mind
- verschijnenmeet or come to the mind
- voorkomenbe present or found
Estonian toimuma, tekkima
- toimumatake place
- tekkimapresent itself
- meenumameet or come to the mind
- esinemabe present or found
Finnish tapahtua, tarjoutua
- tapahtuatake place
- tarjoutuapresent itself
- sattuapresent itself
- tapahtuapresent itself
- juolahtaa mieleenmeet or come to the mind
- tulla mieleenmeet or come to the mind
- esiintyäbe present or found
French se produire, avoir lieu
- se produiretake place
- avoir lieutake place
- arriverpresent itself
- se présenterpresent itself
- se produirepresent itself
- se passerpresent itself
- avoir lieupresent itself
- venir à l'idée (de quelqu'un)meet or come to the mind
- se retrouverbe present or found
German passieren, vorkommen
- passierentake place
- vorkommentake place
- stattfindentake place
- vorkommenpresent itself
- passierenpresent itself
- einfallenmeet or come to the mind
- in den Sinn kommenmeet or come to the mind
- vorkommenbe present or found
Greek περνώ
- περνώ (pernó)meet or come to the mind
Hindi बीतना
- बीतना (bītnā)take place
Hungarian eszébe jut, előfordul
- eszébe jutmeet or come to the mind
- előfordulbe present or found
- megtalálhatóbe present or found
Irish rith le
- rith lemeet or come to the mind
Italian verificarsi, sovvenire
- verificarsitake place
- sovveniremeet or come to the mind
- venire in mentemeet or come to the mind
Japanese 起こる, 起る
- 起こる (okoru)take place
- 起る (okoru)take place
- ある (aru)present itself
- 思い浮かぶ (omoiukabu)meet or come to the mind
- ある (aru)be present or found
Korean 일어나다, 발생하다
- 일어나다 (ireonada)take place
- 발생하다 (balsaenghada)take place
Latin eveniō, accidō
- eveniōtake place
- accidōtake place
- incidōtake place
- cadōtake place
- subeōtake place
- eveniopresent itself
- superveniopresent itself
- eveniomeet or come to the mind
- occurromeet or come to the mind
- eveniobe present or found
Māori tū, wheriko
- tūtake place
- wherikomeet or come to the mind
- ohiameet or come to the mind
Norwegian skje, inntreffe
- skjetake place
- inntreffepresent itself
Norwegian Bokmål forekomme, forekomme
- forekommetake place
- forekommebe present or found
Persian اتفاق افتادن, رخ دادن
- اتفاق افتادن (ettefâq oftâdan)take place
- رخ دادن (rox dâdan)take place
- به عقل رسیدن (be 'aql residan)meet or come to the mind
- پیداآمدن (peydāāmadan)be present or found
Polish zdarzać się, zdarzyć się
- zdarzać siętake place
- zdarzyć siętake place
- wydarzać siętake place
- wydarzyć siętake place
- dziać siętake place
- stać siętake place
- trafiać siętake place
- trafić siętake place
- napaśćmeet or come to the mind
- występowaćbe present or found
Portuguese ocorrer, acontecer
- ocorrertake place
- acontecertake place
- ocorrerpresent itself
- ocorrermeet or come to the mind
- ocorrerbe present or found
- encontrar-sebe present or found
Romanian trece
- trecemeet or come to the mind
Russian происходи́ть, произойти́
- происходи́ть (proisxodítʹ)take place
- произойти́ (proizojtí)take place
- случа́ться (slučátʹsja)take place
- случи́ться (slučítʹsja)take place
- приходи́ть в голову (prixodítʹ v golovu)meet or come to the mind
Scottish Gaelic tachair, tachair
- tachairtake place
- tachairpresent itself
- buail an ceannmeet or come to the mind
- buail airmeet or come to the mind
- tachairbe present or found
Slovak stať sa, udiať sa
- stať satake place
- udiať satake place
- nastaťtake place
Spanish ocurrir, presentarse
- ocurrirtake place
- presentarsepresent itself
- ocurrírselemeet or come to the mind
- tincarmeet or come to the mind
Swedish hända, ske
- händatake place
- sketake place
- äga rumtake place
- inträffapresent itself
- förekommabe present or found
Tamil நட, வா
- நட (naṭa)take place
- வா (vā)present itself
- கிடை (kiṭai)present itself
- தோன்று (tōṉṟu)meet or come to the mind
- தோன்று (tōṉṟu)be present or found
- காண் (kāṇ)be present or found
Thai เกิด
- เกิด (gə̀ət)take place
Turkish olmak, olmak
- olmaktake place
- olmakpresent itself
- aklına gelmekmeet or come to the mind
- hatırlamakmeet or come to the mind
- (bir yerde) hazır olmakbe present or found
Ukrainian става́тися, ста́тися
- става́тися (stavátysja)take place
- ста́тися (státysja)take place
- трапля́тися (trapljátysja)take place
- тра́питися (trápytysja)take place
- відбува́тися (vidbuvátysja)take place
- відбу́тися (vidbútysja)take place
- чини́тися (čynýtysja)take place
- учини́тися (učynýtysja)take place
- зчини́тися (zčynýtysja)take place
- роби́тися (robýtysja)take place
- зроби́тися (zrobýtysja)take place
- приходити в голову (pryxodyty v holovu)meet or come to the mind
Urdu بیتنا, ہونا
- بیتنا (bītnā)take place
- ہونا (honā)take place
- پیش آنا (peś ānā)take place
Vietnamese xảy ra
- xảy ratake place
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with occur
Cite this entry
occur. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/occur
“occur.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/occur. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “occur,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/occur.
Source: occur on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.