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.
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.
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Torrential rainfall is also occurring with this storm and may lead to localized flooding.—Ca Weather Bot, Sacbee.com, 4 Oct. 2025 When heavy rain occurs, there is a potential for flooding, particularly in areas that are low-lying or prone to floods.—Nc Weather Bot, Charlotte Observer, 4 Oct. 2025 But really, most of the supernatural activity at Hereafter occurs when the building is quiet and only one or two people are there.—Maggie Menderski, Louisville Courier Journal, 3 Oct. 2025 Those include things like where the chase occurs, such as a residential or school area; speed of the chase; and the seriousness of the offense.—David Clarey, jsonline.com, 3 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for occur
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
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
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