befall
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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"We wake up wondering what new disaster is going to befall Auroville," its French-language magazine declared in December.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 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
Jo's brother Jimmy said he "never imagined such a profound tragedy would ever befall our family".
From BBC ● Nov. 25, 2025
A shipboard accident might still befall Yul-Bayur on the journey back.
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
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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
The witches are thus active instruments in the fate that befalls Macbeth, making him somewhat more of a puppet of their otherworldly mischief than a closer reading of the text might bear out.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2025
"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
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No other harm befell him or my little brother.
From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2026
There are allusions to the tragedies that befell him: the loss of a young daughter to measles encephalitis and his son’s near-fatal accident.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 24, 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
Mother warned of illnesses that befell children who did not eat their lentils and of ghosts that stalked them in their sleep.
From "Tasting the Sky" by Ibtisam Barakat
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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
A spate of fires and disasters has befallen the city's historic architecture over the years, raising questions about whether these are freak accidents or a symptom of wider issues.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026
“This is a devastating tragedy that has befallen the Reiner family,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 17, 2025
"This is a devastating tragedy that has befallen the Reiner family," he said.
From Barron's ● Dec. 17, 2025
“And what escapades have befallen you since you were here last?” she asked, laughing with such delight I could not keep from grinning too.
From "Crispin: The Cross of Lead" by Avi
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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
It doesn’t help that a rainstorm of biblical proportions is befalling Chicago.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
For someone who wept at seeing the modern Tatars enter Baghdad, the prospect of a similar fate befalling Tehran is more than a strategic policy shift.
From Salon ● Mar. 7, 2026
If we speak about 1929 perhaps we believe we will avoid a similar fate befalling us.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 20, 2025
It's possible she actually prevented another tragedy from befalling our family.
From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi
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Vocabulary lists containing befall
Essential Academic Vocabulary for High School Students, List 1
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A Midsummer Night's Dream
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