Meaning & use
occur
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Meanings
verbintransitive
To happen or take place, often unexpectedly.
Grammar: No object: the accident occurred at night.
Patterns
- something occurs
- something occurs in something
The accident occurred just after midnight.
Storms of this kind occur only once every few years.
If any problems occur, call the helpline.
verbintransitive
To come into someone's mind as a thought or idea.
Grammar: Used with to: it never occurred to me to ask.
Patterns
- something occurs to someone
- it occurs to someone that
It never occurred to her that the door might be locked.
Did it occur to you to check the weather first?
A better solution suddenly occurred to him in the shower.
verbintransitiveformal
To be found or exist in a certain place or situation.
Grammar: Often followed by in or on: the plant occurs in dry regions.
Patterns
- something occurs in something
This rare orchid occurs only on a few mountain slopes.
Iron occurs naturally in many kinds of rock.
Errors of this type occur frequently in first drafts.
Word forms
| third person singular | occurs |
|---|---|
| past tense | occurred |
| past participle | occurred |
| -ing form | occurring |
Common combinations
- occur naturally
- Salt occurs naturally in seawater.
- occur to someone
- It didn't occur to me that she was joking.
- occur frequently
- Power cuts occur frequently in the region during winter.
- occur without warning
- Earthquakes can occur without warning.
- occur simultaneously
- The two events occurred simultaneously, which confused the investigators.
Synonyms and how they differ
- happen
- Happen is the everyday word and sounds more casual, while occur is somewhat more formal and common in reports.
- take place
- Take place suggests a planned or scheduled event, whereas occur often describes something unplanned.
- arise
- Arise fits problems and questions that come into being, while occur can describe any event.
Word family
- occurrence noun
- something that happens, or the fact of its happening
- recurrence noun
- a repeated happening
- recur verb
- to happen again
- reoccur verb
- to happen again, a variant of recur
Commonly confused: occur or occupy?
occur vs occupy
Occupy means to fill or take up a space or time, while occur means to happen.
Practice
It never ___ to me that the shop might be closed on Sunday.
Choose one answer.
Occurred to someone is the fixed pattern for a thought entering the mind; the other verbs do not take to someone in this sense.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “occur”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.