Meaning of occur in English:

verboccurs, occurring, occurred

• 1Happen; take place.

  ‘the accident occurred at about 3.30 p.m.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘An air bag is designed to protect a driver or passenger in the event that an accident occurs.’
  • ‘Hallucinations usually occur only at particular times and places, and are associated with the events hoped for.’
  • ‘The functional impairments secondary to osteoarthritis also occur more frequently in older adults.’
  • ‘But then two incidents occurred only a month apart in 1988.’
  • ‘Demonization usually occurs only in certain areas of a person's life.’
  • ‘Also it was found that recombination events often occur in gene-rich areas.’
  • ‘Changes often occur in the regions of the mouth where tobacco is placed.’
  • ‘But by mid-afternoon on Monday an unrelated incident occurred which will cause further interruptions in water supply.’
  • ‘In 1847 an incident occurred which seriously weakened his position.’
  • ‘Death usually occurs within a few weeks to a year.’
  • ‘Keep in mind, however, that the most serious accidents typically occur during deer season.’
  • ‘Of course, events do occur which accelerate the processes by which people become conscious.’
  • ‘Consequently accidents still occur due to a lack of awareness of the dangers involved with electricity.’
  • ‘Most accidents occur due to a lack of discipline and a leader's failure to enforce standards.’
  • ‘The event in question occurred some five years prior to the incident.’
  • ‘The more recent phase of integration has occurred against the backdrop of globalization.’
  • ‘Several short-term wins occurred as a result of the formation of the College Connection.’
  • ‘Much of this growth has occurred as a result of the charismatic or Pentecostal movement.’
  • ‘The offences occurred over a period of around three days in July last year.’
  • ‘So the wedding would have occurred sometime in the first week of October.’

  Synonyms

  happen, take place, come about, transpire, materialize, chance, arise, crop up, turn out, fall, come, fall out, pass off

  View synonyms

  1. 1.1Exist or be found to be present in a place or under a particular set of conditions.
     ‘radon occurs naturally in rocks such as granite’
     More example sentences

     • ‘Anthrax is a naturally occurring bacterium that exists in the form of spores which allow it to survive in the environment.’
     • ‘It is probable that every naturally occurring element is present in the outer core at least at trace levels.’
     • ‘Silica is rare but when present occurs in vascular bundle sheath cells in both the leaf sheath and leaf blade.’
     • ‘The virus occurs naturally in many birds and is transmitted by Culex mosquitoes.’
     • ‘Radioactivity occurs naturally in the earth and in the cosmic rays which reach the earth.’
     • ‘These agents are naturally occurring and are deadly to humans even without being weaponized.’
     • ‘Other elements occur naturally in a pure or elemental form, like sulphur or gold.’
     • ‘Surface exposures of Ncogene sedimentary rocks occur only along the edges of the basin.’
     • ‘EPO and HGH are both naturally occurring substances within the body and as such are hard to detect.’
     • ‘Mercifully, though, deaths caused by naturally occurring anthrax are rare these days.’
     • ‘AAV is a naturally occurring virus that depends on a helper virus for replication.’
     • ‘They have spent the time analyzing the naturally occurring bacteria in abalone guts.’
     • ‘The last appearance of D. murchisoni appears to occur at the same time across the region.’
     • ‘Bromide is a naturally occurring trace chemical which has a sedative effect.’
     • ‘Does ozone occur naturally at ground level and is it safe to breathe?’
     • ‘On average, nodes preceding gene duplications occur earlier in the phylogenetic trees than speciation nodes.’
     • ‘Whether or not this occurs in vivo is not yet known.’
     • ‘Our analysis indicates that frequency encoding of biological T-cell functions occurs under physiological conditions.’
     • ‘Although most often accompanied by significant ascites, it can occur in its absence.’
     • ‘The data show that aggregation will occur in the absence of detectable plasma fibrinogen.’
     Synonyms

     be found, be present, exist, be met with, appear, prevail, present itself, show itself, manifest itself, turn up

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  2. 1.2occur to(of a thought or idea) come into the mind of.
     with clause ‘it occurred to him that he hadn't eaten’
     More example sentences

     • ‘He would often get up from bed at night when an idea occurred to him and write it down.’
     • ‘She turned her eyes down to the paw she held, several ideas occurring to her simultaneously.’
     • ‘I leaned over again so that I could see it more clearly, then an idea occurred to me.’
     • ‘An idea occurred to James at that moment and he allowed a small smile to play on his lips.’
     • ‘The idea had occurred to him during a coffee break at his session the previous afternoon.’
     • ‘There was some time left before the lesson started and an idea suddenly occurred to me.’
     • ‘It is not surprising that such an idea would occur to a writer in the Hispanic world.’
     • ‘The idea of putting it online did occur to me, but I don't know if I'd actually do it.’
     • ‘If you have an idea, throw it in - even if it occurs to you in the middle of a show.’
     • ‘It just occurs to me that this may be what is behind this idea of real money.’
     Synonyms

     enter one's head, enter one's mind, cross one's mind, come to mind, spring to mind, come to one, strike one, hit one, dawn on one, suggest itself, present itself, come into one's consciousness

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