occur

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English

WOTD – 5 August 2008

Alternative forms

Etymology

Originally "meet, meet in argument", borrowed from Middle French occurrer, from Latin occurrō (“run to meet, run against, befall, present itself”) from prefix ob- (“against”) + verb currō (“run, hurry, move”).

Pronunciation

Verb

occur (third-person singular simple present occurs, present participle occurring, simple past and past participle occurred)

  1. (intransitive) To happen or take place.
    The liftoff will occur in exactly twelve seconds.
    • 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:
      And no use for anyone to tell Charles that this was because the Family was in mourning for Mr Granville Darracott […]: Charles might only have been second footman at Darracott Place for a couple of months when that disaster occurred, but no one could gammon him into thinking that my lord cared a spangle for his heir.
  2. (intransitive) To present or offer itself.
    I will write if the opportunity occurs.
  3. (impersonal) To come or be presented to the mind; to suggest itself.
    One little incident of my school days occurs to me as amusing.
    It occurred to him to tell me of the problem.
    • 1995, Theodore Kaczynski, Industrial Society and Its Future:
      Apparently it never occurs to them that you can't make rapid, drastic changes in the technology and the economy of a society without causing rapid changes in all other aspects of the society as well, […]
  4. (intransitive, sciences) To be present or found.
    The chemical monofluoroacetate occurs in all parts of Dichapetalum cymosum, and is responsible for its toxic effects.

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Translations

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