[syn: find, happen, chance, bump, encounter]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Happen \Hap"pen\ (h[a^]p"p'n), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Happened
(-p'nd); p. pr. & vb. n. Happening.] [OE. happenen, hapnen.
See Hap to happen.]
1. To come by chance; to come without previous expectation;
to fall out.
[1913 Webster]
There shall no evil happen to the just. --Prov. xii.
21.
[1913 Webster]
2. To take place; to occur.
[1913 Webster]
All these things which had happened. --Luke xxiv.
14.
[1913 Webster]
To happen on, to meet with; to fall or light upon. "I have
happened on some other accounts." --Graunt.
To happen in, to make a casual call. [Colloq.]
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
happen
v 1: come to pass; "What is happening?"; "The meeting took place
off without an incidence"; "Nothing occurred that seemed
important" [syn: happen, hap, go on, pass off,
occur, pass, fall out, come about, take place]
2: happen, occur, or be the case in the course of events or by
chance; "It happens that today is my birthday"; "These things
befell" (Santayana) [syn: happen, befall, bechance]
3: chance to be or do something, without intention or causation;
"I happen to have just what you need!"
4: come into being; become reality; "Her dream really
materialized" [syn: happen, materialize, materialise]
[ant: dematerialise, dematerialize]
5: come upon, as if by accident; meet with; "We find this idea
in Plato"; "I happened upon the most wonderful bakery not
very far from here"; "She chanced upon an interesting book in
the bookstore the other day" [syn: find, happen,
chance, bump, encounter]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
54 Moby Thesaurus words for "happen":
be found, be met with, be realized, bechance, become of, befall,
betide, break, bump, chance, come, come about, come along,
come down, come off, come to pass, come true, come upon, cook,
develop, do, encounter, eventuate, fall, fall out, find, give, go,
go off, go on, hap, happen along, happen by chance, hazard, hit,
light, luck, materialize, meet, meet with, occur, pass, pass off,
pop up, prove, rise, stumble, stumble on, stumble upon, take place,
transpire, tumble, turn out, turn up