occur to

phrasal verb

occurred to; occurring to; occurs to
: to be thought of by (someone)
An idea just occurred to me.
It suddenly occurred to her that there was a simpler way to deal with the problem.
Did it never occur to you to ask for help?

Examples of occur to in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The bill, whose author is Sen. Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park), would allow accusers up to 15 years after an incident occurred to press charges. Anabel Sosa, Los Angeles Times, 23 May 2024 Some damage occurred to the interior of the building as well, Stewart said. Marina Johnson, The Courier-Journal, 21 May 2024 The idea that any other ending was available did not seem to have occurred to anyone, right up to the point when Bernardo Silva and Mateo Kovacic missed their penalties in quick succession, and all of a sudden City found itself on the brink. Rory Smith, New York Times, 19 Apr. 2024 The description wouldn’t ever have occurred to me, since Branson is so deeply landlocked—notwithstanding the baptismally seductive lakes and rivers that lie amid its hills. Rafil Kroll-Zaidi, Harper's Magazine, 30 Mar. 2024 Plants can be pruned or trimmed when disease occurs to prevent it from spreading. Steve Bender, Southern Living, 9 Apr. 2024 These are things that only occur to obsessives who’ve spent hours debating, say, exactly how much reverb should be on the drums in that four-second passage on the second chorus. Jem Aswad, Variety, 5 Apr. 2024 How this did not occur to Conde is unfathomable and shows a tremendous lack of judgment. Oliver Darcy, CNN, 26 Mar. 2024 This occurred to me, floating on my back, off a cove in Mallorca. Sophie Yun Mancini, Condé Nast Traveler, 26 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'occur to.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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Cite this Entry

“Occur to.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/occur%20to. Accessed 6 Jun. 2024.

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