as in to encounter
to come upon face-to-face or as if face-to-face
happened upon the hotel manager in the lobby and promptly complained about the room
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for happen (upon)
Verb
-
Across airports and aircraft, many older passengers encounter—or unintentionally create—the same challenges.—
Katie Jackson,
Travel + Leisure,
8 Mar. 2026 -
When a radio wave encounters an electron in interstellar space, lower radio frequencies interact more strongly than higher frequencies, causing the lower frequencies to be delayed and arrive at their destination later than higher frequencies.—
Keith Cooper,
Space.com,
8 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
That will make meeting exponential demand for chips expensive—and maybe even impossible.—
Nasteho Said,
Bloomberg,
9 Mar. 2026
-
Turkey has been further enhancing its border defenses to be able to respond to a potential influx of people fleeing unrest after mass antigovernment protests in Iran were met by a brutal crackdown in January that left thousands dead.—
Serra Yedikardes,
Los Angeles Times,
9 Mar. 2026
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.
Cite this Entry
“Happen (upon).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/happen%20%28upon%29. Accessed 10 Mar. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
