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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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The biggest pre-World Cup worry for England was how they would cope should any misfortune befall captain Kane.

From BBC Jul. 2, 2026

"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

That fate can befall even major acts, particularly those from Latin America.

From Los Angeles Times Apr. 19, 2026

European elections keep rolling around whether anyone wants them or not, and the next will befall the U.K. in early May.

From The Wall Street Journal Apr. 16, 2026

Not knowing what would befall me next, I clutched my mother’s image, feeling all at once abandoned and chosen, despairing and hopeful.

From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein

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

Now imagine a great tragedy befalls one province.

From Salon Jan. 16, 2025

“All human life is sacred, so it’s not proper to laugh when serious harm befalls someone,” wrote one Bluesky user.

From Los Angeles Times Dec. 6, 2024

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

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

Because, for veterans of modern warfare, the question isn’t how to come to grips with something that befell us in the manner of a natural disaster.

From Slate Mar. 16, 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

For this, and folly, a bad end befell them.

From "The Odyssey" by Homer

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

The same fate could’ve easily befallen this movie, too.

From Salon May 1, 2026

“This is a devastating tragedy that has befallen the Reiner family,” he said.

From The Wall Street Journal Dec. 17, 2025

Booth’s achievement is described in the Richmond papers as “the most deplorable calamity, which has ever befallen the people of the United States.”

From "Lincoln's Last Days: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever" by Bill O'Reilly

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


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