happen

happen [hap′ən]

vi.

[ME happenen: see HAP¹ & -EN]

1. to take place; occur; befall

2. to be or occur by chance or without plan [it happened to rain]

3. to have the luck or occasion; chance [I happened to see it]

4. to come by chance (along, by, in, etc.)

——————

happen on or happen upon

to meet or find by chance

——————

happen to

to be done to or be the fate of; befall

SYN.- HAPPEN is the general word meaning to take place or come to pass and may suggest either direct cause or apparent accident; CHANCE, more or less equivalent to HAPPEN, always implies apparent lack of cause in the event; OCCUR is somewhat more formal and usually suggests a specific event at a specific time [what happened?, the accident occurred at four o'clock ]; TRANSPIRE is now frequently used as an equivalent for HAPPEN or OCCUR [what transpired at the conference ], apparently by confusion with its sense of to become known, or leak out [reports on the conference never transpired]