transitive verbbefell, befallen

• (of something bad) happen to someone.

  ‘a tragedy befell his daughter’

  More example sentences

  • ‘she was to blame for anything that befell’
  • ‘In November 1913 a fatal tragedy befell the family - after a quarrel Lora committed suicide.’
  • ‘Despite the disgrace and humiliation which eventually befell him, he never wavered from his beliefs.’
  • ‘We're sorry these warnings were too late to prevent the tragedy that befell your family.’
  • ‘But bad luck befell the team, resulting in a year-long winless streak.’
  • ‘Summoning emergency help should an injury befall a walker would have been almost impossible.’

  Synonyms

  happen to, overtake, come upon, fall upon, hit, strike, be visited on

  happen, occur, take place, chance to happen, arise, emerge, come about, transpire, materialize, appear, make an appearance, surface, crop up, spring up, present itself

  View synonyms