happen (on or upon)

verb

Definition of happen (on or upon)next
as in to find
to come upon unexpectedly or by chance happened on the filming of a movie

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for happen (on or upon)
  1. find
  2. encounter
  3. come across
Verb
  • From his emergence in the mid-1950s until his passing in 2018, Taylor not only disassembled jazz and reconstructed it in his own style, but also found ways to make the world listen.
    — Levi Dayan, Pitchfork, 3 Nov. 2026
  • Police previously said investigators found no evidence of an actual plan to carry out violence at the school.
    — Sacbee.com, Sacbee.com, 3 Nov. 2026
Definition of find
Verb
  • One of his teams encountered thousands of these devices in Iraq.
    — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 31 Oct. 2026
  • While Florida doesn’t offer the mountaintop vistas and waterfalls found in other states, there are so many trails on land and water worth exploring, with myriad flora and fauna to encounter along the way.
    — Patrick Connolly, The Orlando Sentinel, 30 Oct. 2026
Definition of encounter
Verb
  • Lead vocalist Jacob Bannon came across the phenomenon when researching his own tinnitus and reimagined it as a culmination of all the pain and suffering in human existence.
    — Alex Robert Ross, Pitchfork, 24 June 2026
  • So Veena’s mother turned to the internet, came across a blog post about Real Love and spoke to the woman who wrote it, a mother whose son had been suicidal.
    — Rich Schapiro, NBC news, 20 June 2026
Definition of come across
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

happening (upon)
happen (on or upon)
happens
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Happen (on or upon).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/happen%20%28on%20or%20upon%29. Accessed 5 Nov. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of effrontery

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Old-Timey Vehicles

Ten More Words from Taylor Swift Songs

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
couple-laugh-cafe
Quiz: Foreign Phrases You Should Know Check out your bona fides and avoid any faux pas.
See All