The Meaning of Occur and the Spelling of Its Forms
Occur has three meanings. It means "to be found or met with; appear," as in "a phenomenon that occurs around the world"; it means "to come into existence; happen," as in "an event that occurred on Friday"; and it means "to come to mind," as in "it occurs to me that the word is quite useful."
It's an unusual-looking word, being so small but with two c's up against each other, and then just a simple r at the end. The r is doubled, though, for the past tense: occurred. And the double r continues in the present participle: occurring.
The event is scheduled to occur at noon tomorrow.
No one was ready for what was about to occur.
There's a chance that a similar event will occur in the future.
The disease tends to occur in children under the age of five.
The plant occurs naturally throughout South America.
Recent Examples on the WebThis incident occurs two months after the former president was injured in an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania on July 13.—Phillip M. Bailey, USA TODAY, 16 Sep. 2024 And the sisters wondered: Why was justice taking so long for a crime that occurred near a popular watering hole and had several witnesses?—Faith Karimi, CNN, 15 Sep. 2024 Adolescence only occurs once, but neurological and mental effects from its time may last much longer.—Omer Awan, Forbes, 15 Sep. 2024 The benefit for Harris occurred almost exclusively in her base, potentially helping her turnout efforts.—Gary Langer, ABC News, 15 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for occur
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'occur.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
borrowed from Latin occurrere "to run to meet, confront in a hostile manner, be met, present itself (to the mind)," from oc-, assimilated variant of ob-ob- + currere "to run, roll, move swiftly" — more at current entry 1
from Latin occurrere "to be found or met with, appear," literally, "to run up against," from oc-, ob- "in the way" and currere "to run" — related to current, incur
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