OCCUR (occurred, occurring)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: occurred    , occurring   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does occur mean? 

• OCCUR (verb)
  The verb OCCUR has 3 senses:

1. come to pass

2. come to one's mind; suggest itself

3. to be found to exist

  Familiarity information: OCCUR used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OCCUR (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they occur    ... he / she / it occurs   
Past simple: occured    / occurred   
Past participle: occured    / occurred   
-ing form: occuring    / occurring   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Come to pass

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

come about; fall out; go on; hap; happen; occur; pass; pass off; take place

Context example:

Nothing occurred that seemed important

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "occur"):

arise; come up (result or issue)

contemporise; contemporize; synchronise; synchronize (happen at the same time)

turn out (prove to be in the result or end)

fall; shine; strike (touch or seem as if touching visually or audibly)

break (happen or take place)

chance (be the case by chance)

backfire; backlash; recoil (come back to the originator of an action with an undesired effect)

coincide; concur (happen simultaneously)

bechance; befall; betide (become of; happen to)

bechance; befall; happen (happen, occur, or be the case in the course of events or by chance)

happen; materialise; materialize (come into being; become reality)

come around; roll around (happen regularly)

come off; go off; go over (happen in a particular manner)

recur; repeat (happen or occur again)

develop (be gradually disclosed or unfolded; become manifest)

anticipate (be a forerunner of or occur earlier than)

fall (occur at a specified time or place)

come (come to pass; arrive, as in due course)

go; proceed (follow a certain course)

supervene (take place as an additional or unexpected development)

give (occur)

transpire (come about, happen, or occur)

intervene (occur between other event or between certain points of time)

result (come about or follow as a consequence)

break; develop; recrudesce (happen)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP
It ----s that CLAUSE

Sense 2

Meaning:

Come to one's mind; suggest itself

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

come; occur

Context example:

A great idea then came to her

Hypernyms (to "occur" is one way to...):

become (come into existence)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Sense 3

Meaning:

To be found to exist

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Context example:

precious stones occur in a large area in Brazil

Hypernyms (to "occur" is one way to...):

appear; come along (come into being or existence, or appear on the scene)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "occur"):

geminate; pair (occur in pairs)

run (occur persistently)

collocate (have a strong tendency to occur side by side)

abound in; pullulate with; teem in (exist in large quantity)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

 Context examples 

It occurs in the ovary, fallopian tube, uterine corpus, and cervix.

(Adenofibroma, NCI Thesaurus)

Well, for once it may pass; but please not to let the circumstance occur too often.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Perhaps it would be easier for you if I were to tell Mr. Soames what occurred, and you can check me where I am wrong.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

What should I do if they occur?

(Medication Errors, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

It occurs predominantly in children and has the tendency to metastasize via the cerebrospinal fluid pathways.

(Medulloblastoma, NCI Thesaurus)

Other opportunities of making her observations could not fail to occur.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Dead zones are a major water quality issue with an estimated total of more than 550 occurring annually worldwide.

(2015 Gulf of Mexico dead zone ‘above average’, NOAA)

Rejection of a transplanted organ that usually occurs after the first week of the transplantation.

(Acute Rejection, NCI Thesaurus)

Let me set down exactly what occurred.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

An itchy skin condition may also occur.

(MEN2A, NCI Dictionary)