occur

verb

oc·​cur ə-ˈkər 

occurred; occurring ə-ˈkər-iŋ 

-ˈkə-riŋ

intransitive verb

1

: to be found or met with : appear

This bird occurs in New England in the spring.

2

: to come into existence : happen

The accident occurred at 5 p.m.

3

: to come to mind

an idea that has occurred to me

Did you know?

The Meaning of Occur and the Spelling of Its Forms

Occur has three meanings. It means "to be found or met with; appear," as in "a phenomenon that occurs around the world"; it means "to come into existence; happen," as in "an event that occurred on Friday"; and it means "to come to mind," as in "it occurs to me that the word is quite useful."

It's an unusual-looking word, being so small but with two c's up against each other, and then just a simple r at the end. The r is doubled, though, for the past tense: occurred. And the double r continues in the present participle: occurring.

Synonyms

• come (to)
• strike

Examples of occur in a Sentence

The event is scheduled to occur at noon tomorrow.

No one was ready for what was about to occur.

There's a chance that a similar event will occur in the future.

The disease tends to occur in children under the age of five.

The plant occurs naturally throughout South America.

Recent Examples on the Web

Livestream video of the event showed crowds of people running from the university's courtyard where the 31-year-old was speaking when the shooting occurred. —Charles Trepany, USA Today, 12 Sep. 2025

Shortly after the shooting occurred, Kluwe sent a post seemingly mocking Kirk for getting shot. —Jackson Thompson, FOXNews.com, 12 Sep. 2025

This occurs every six months when the Earth, moon and sun line up in space — according to NASA — where a lunar eclipse can occur during the full moon phase and a solar eclipse during the new moon phase. —Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 12 Sep. 2025

When the shooting occurs near an election, contributions surge by 1,730 percent. —John J. Donohue, MSNBC Newsweek, 12 Sep. 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Latin occurrere "to run to meet, confront in a hostile manner, be met, present itself (to the mind)," from oc-, assimilated variant of ob- ob- + currere "to run, roll, move swiftly" — more at current entry 1

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing occur

• co-occur
• occur to

Rhymes for occur

• chauffeur
• cockspur
• concur
• confer
• defer
• demur
• deter
• hotspur
• incur
• infer
• inter
• jagir

Kids Definition

occur

verb

oc·​cur ə-ˈkər 

occurred; occurring -ˈkər-iŋ 

1

: to be found or met with : appear

plants that occur in meadows

2

: to come into existence : happen

an accident occurred on the way to school

success doesn't just occur, it is earned

3

: to come into the mind

it just occurred to me

Etymology

from Latin occurrere "to be found or met with, appear," literally, "to run up against," from oc-, ob- "in the way" and currere "to run" — related to current, incur