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
But woe befall any bad guys who mistake him for a fool.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 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
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
Why don’t I care one iota about the bad luck that might befall me?
From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson
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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 Jeffrey Epstein case itself is no longer “real,” but a plot device to keep viewers tuning in to see what befalls the protagonist, in the manner of someone being voted off the island.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2025
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
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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
The issue also befell the German team who won bronze in the biathlon.
From BBC ● Feb. 9, 2026
Or they would speak about the potato fields of Colorado, and the tragedy that befell them there.
From "Bless Me, Ultima" by Rudolfo Anaya
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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
The same fate could’ve easily befallen this movie, too.
From Salon ● May 1, 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
A black minister in Waterloo, Mississippi, explained his outrage at the fate that has befallen African Americans in the post-civil rights era.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
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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 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
That defeat would have paled when set beside the one that looked like befalling Scotland now.
From BBC ● Feb. 3, 2024
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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ACT Vocabulary List
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