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
A different sort of disaster may befall Mr. Starmer and Labour in London.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026
How has she dealt with the fallow periods that befall every actor?
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 2025
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
“Indeed, what would befall mankind if all young girls were to join our ranks?”
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
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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
“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
But then we eventually see that his friends of 25 years never got to know him either, which makes everything that befalls him land with bitterness as opposed to melancholy.
From Salon ● Jun. 14, 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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The incident that eventually befell Price took place in July 2015.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 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
And weeping still they all cried out in greeting: ‘Prince, what joy this is, your safe return! Now Ithaka seems here, and we in Ithaka! But tell us now, what death befell our friends?’
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
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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
The same fate could’ve easily befallen this movie, too.
From Salon ● May 1, 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
Ought she lie, and say some horrible fate had befallen her speech, thus rendering it unspeakable?
From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood
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She imagined something terrible befalling her, and her parents discovering her mounting credit-card bills.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 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
The idea of anything untoward befalling Kane is unthinkable because, for all Watkins' energy and what Ivan Toney may yet bring against Belgium, England's on-field leader is irreplaceable.
From BBC ● Mar. 23, 2024
“Do not speak of ill befalling you,” Taran cried.
From "The Black Cauldron" by Lloyd Alexander
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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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