befall

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

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

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 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

Papa was always worrying that some disaster would befall our family.

From "The Ugly One" by Leanne Statland Ellis

The cynic in me knows that, as surely as no Gutenberg protégé engraved this stationery, the happy accident of the extras befalls every customer.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 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

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

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

No other harm befell him or my little brother.

From Salon ● Jul. 3, 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

As we near the end we get to a full account of the game itself, enlivened by quotes the players gave after the fact, and followed by chronicles of what befell the participants after 1933.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 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

That fate befell African pygmies and many other hunter-gatherer populations displaced by farmers.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

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

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

From Barron's ● Dec. 17, 2025

‘What sickness has befallen the river? Many fair things Saruman has destroyed: has he devoured the springs of Isen too?’

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien

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

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

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 20, 2025

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

From "The Black Cauldron" by Lloyd Alexander