Thesaurus.com
Dictionary.com
Showing results for befall. Search instead for bifall.
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.

See Examples For:

"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

With head-scratching lyrics like, “Why should a land have so much meaning when dark times befall it? It’s just a land made of dirt and rock,” they confuse far more than they entertain.

From Salon Nov. 21, 2025

In the wake of 9/11, when many feared and no one knew what might befall us, he helped harden the country and prevent attacks.

From The Wall Street Journal Nov. 4, 2025

It’s not the first calamity to befall the family in the West Bank.

From Los Angeles Times Oct. 30, 2025

Yet what harm could befall them at Swanburne?

From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood

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

After tragedy befalls his family, Mahito, the titular boy, leaves Tokyo and relocates to the country with his father to live with his aunt, Natsuko.

From Salon Dec. 23, 2023

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

A magnetic field around any of these structures would form a continuous tangent vector field, and at this point we know what befalls such hairy constructions.

From Scientific American Aug. 18, 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

Without clear succession planning, Xi also risks the fate that befell Stalin and Mao, whose deaths in office unleashed struggles for power that ended up unraveling their political visions.

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 5, 2026

A similar fate befell What's Wrong With Me – a duet with her musical hero, The Cure's Robert Smith.

From BBC Jun. 10, 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

And all the ages up until the Seeing were as long as the ages will be after the Seeing, which befell in the Center of Time.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin

Rodríguez, who could use the crisis to strengthen her hold on power, has highlighted the successes of the response while acknowledging the grave catastrophe that had befallen her country.

From The Wall Street Journal Jun. 26, 2026

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

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

The topic had been the prophet Job and how his patience and devotion to Allah had persevered, no matter what calamity had befallen him—even when his body had been covered with painful sores.

From "Shooting Kabul" by N. H. Senzai

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

From The Wall Street Journal Jun. 25, 2026

If we speak about 1929 perhaps we believe we will avoid a similar fate befalling us.

From MarketWatch Oct. 20, 2025

The precedents I have in mind rose and fell on elements of “human nature” that also drive what’s befalling us now.

From Salon Feb. 17, 2025

The statement is hollow so long as people still can stake their dollars on the calamities befalling everyday Angelenos.

From Los Angeles Times Jan. 10, 2025

It's possible she actually prevented another tragedy from befalling our family.

From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi




Vocabulary lists containing befall


Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Dictionary.com's Learning Companion

Go beyond just looking up words.
Remember them forever with VocabTrainer.

Start training