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Definitions

befall

[bih-fawl] / bɪˈfɔl /


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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It is the latest in a litany of disasters to befall one of the most benighted industrial cities in Europe, repeatedly blanketed in lethal smoke from similar blazes.

From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026

That worry is the massive drop-off in proven quality at international level should any misfortune befall England captain and record goalscorer Harry Kane.

From BBC ● Mar. 20, 2026

Sanctions didn’t make life easier, he says, but they didn’t befall Iran.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 6, 2026

How has she dealt with the fallow periods that befall every actor?

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 2025

Or the Ninety-first Psalm: “There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.”

From "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario

Granted, I wouldn’t say that nobody cares about what Jackson did or Rowling is committed to doing, whether that harm befalls a few people or impacts entire populations.

From Salon ● May 14, 2026

Carthage’s deeper tragedy lies in the subsequent erasure of its history, language and culture, not in its physical destruction, which befalls all empires.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 11, 2026

Money is a form of the “resource curse” that befalls many producers of oil and other vital commodities.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2025

When a crisis befalls a small circle of closed-minded leaders, they tend to react with strategic and often self-destructive recklessness.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 11, 2023

"Take my betrothed back to the castle, and see that no harm befalls her," the prince told him brusquely.

From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin

Better to know beforehand what I will pay and what I will get and avoid the disaster that befell my friends.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 25, 2026

This vast array of media professionals came no closer to uncovering what awful fate befell this poor 84-year-old woman.

From Slate ● Feb. 23, 2026

She will be desperate to avoid the disaster that befell hot men's favourite Ilia Malinin, who suffered a nightmare last week, slumping to an eighth-place finish.

From Barron's ● Feb. 17, 2026

The issue also befell the German team who won bronze in the biathlon.

From BBC ● Feb. 9, 2026

So it befell that by false cunning and pretended tears those were conquered whom great Diomedes had never overcome, nor savage Achilles, nor ten years of warfare, nor a thousand ships.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton

In baseball, curses are no joking matter, and the Curse of the FTD Burger might now have befallen the team.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026

Initially, police had treated it as a tragic accident that had befallen one of Spain's wealthiest individuals.

From BBC ● May 20, 2026

“This is a devastating tragedy that has befallen the Reiner family. We all recognize that and our hearts go out to the entire Reiner family,” he said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 17, 2025

That's the fate that has befallen SchwuZ, whose director Katja Jaeger says is "the oldest and biggest queer club in Germany", if not Europe.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2025

And they greeted Gandalf and said: ‘We seek the Steward, and men say that he is in this House. Has any hurt befallen him? And the Lady Éowyn, where is she?’

From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien

The comeback ended in a match tie-break defeat by Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk and her American partner Peyton Stearns, with the same fate befalling them in New York.

From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026

White House reporters, meanwhile, are preparing for the day — perhaps a day when they serve as pool reporter — when they get the call about a calamity befalling the president.

From Salon ● Jun. 26, 2026

It doesn’t help that a rainstorm of biblical proportions is befalling Chicago.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026

As he did in other speeches, Leo did not shy away from discussing the ills befalling Lebanon.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 2, 2025

“Do not speak of ill befalling you,” Taran cried.

From "The Black Cauldron" by Lloyd Alexander


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