Word.ws English Dictionary

Synonyms of happen

21 similar words

Another word for happen is occur. Other synonyms of happen are befall, hold, pass and eventuate.

Synonyms and similar words for happen

verbTo occur or take place.

verbMore synonyms

  • bechanceTo happen; chance.
  • befallTo happen.
  • behapTo happen.
  • beworth
  • come aboutTo come to pass; to develop; to occur; to take place; to happen; to exist.
  • crop upTo occur, especially suddenly or unexpectedly.
  • eventuateTo happen as a result; to come about.
  • go onTo happen (occur).
  • hap literaryTo happen; to befall; to chance.
  • holdTo take place, to occur.
  • occurTo happen or take place.
  • passTo happen.
  • take placeTo happen or to occur.
  • transpireTo happen, take place.
  • belimp obsolete
  • betide dated, literaryChiefly in the third person: to happen; to take place; to bechance, to befall.
  • betime archaicTo occur; betide.
  • chance archaicTo happen by chance, to occur.
  • evene obsoleteTo occur; to happen; to come to pass.
  • tide obsoleteTo happen, occur.

Meaning of happen

  1. verb To occur or take place.
  2. verb To happen to; to befall.
  3. verb To do or occur by chance or unexpectedly.

Full definition of happen

happen in other languages

Questions about synonyms of happen

What is another word for happen?
Happen has 21 synonyms on Word.ws, such as occur, befall, hold, pass and eventuate.
What does happen mean?
Happen means to occur or take place.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: happen (page history and authors) and the entries of the words listed. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws grouped the synonyms and antonyms by meaning and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “Synonyms of happen.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/synonyms/happen. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.