happened

VERB

come to pass; occur

Synonyms

STRONGEST

appear arise arrive crop up develop fall go on hit materialize meet pass result take effect take place transpire

STRONG

befall betide bump chance down ensue eventuate follow issue light proceed recur shake smoke spring stumble supervene

WEAK

be found become a fact become known become of come about come after come into being come into existence come off luck present itself stumble upon turn out turn up what goes

Antonyms

STRONGEST

cease disappear fail halt lose stop

STRONG

precede

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:

happened

In late July, OpenAI discovered a version of it had already happened in the Hugging Face hack.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026

During Friday’s 9/11 commemorations, it was startling to realize that one-third of the American population today wasn’t born when it happened.

From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026

“A lot of apathy, for sure, because change hasn’t really happened here.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026

"It's hard for people to know – or rather not to know – what has happened to their loved ones, whether they're being held captive or have died, and where they died," he said.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026

“What happened? One day she was coming over all the time and then she just stopped. Did you two have an argument?”

From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold