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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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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

But woe befall any bad guys who mistake him for a fool.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2026

Sanctions didn’t make life easier, he says, but they didn’t befall Iran.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 6, 2026

Jo's brother Jimmy said he "never imagined such a profound tragedy would ever befall our family".

From BBC ● Nov. 25, 2025

“No harm shall befall your pups. Not today. We’re the Dog Squad.”

From "Dog Squad" by Chris Grabenstein

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

When a tragedy befalls Elias-Clarke and a new CEO is tapped to take over, it’s not just Miranda who’s in trouble, but Runway and its publisher’s storied legacy, too.

From Salon ● May 6, 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

The witches are thus active instruments in the fate that befalls Macbeth, making him somewhat more of a puppet of their otherworldly mischief than a closer reading of the text might bear out.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2025

"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

Better to know beforehand what I will pay and what I will get and avoid the disaster that befell my friends.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 25, 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

‘But first, it would ease my heart, Gandalf, to hear what befell you in Moria. Will you not tell us? Can you not stay even to tell your friends how you were delivered?’

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

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,” 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

In her essay, Schlossberg acknowledged that her terminal illness adds to a string of tragedies that has befallen the famous political family.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 22, 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

The comeback ended in a match tie-break defeat by Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk and her American partner Peyton Stearns, with the same fate befalling them in New York.

From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026

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

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

From "The Black Cauldron" by Lloyd Alexander


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