happening (upon)

verb

Definition of happening (upon)next
present participle of happen (upon)
as in encountering
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 happening (upon)
  1. encountering
  2. meeting
Verb
  • Yiyun Li on encountering the past in writing Music Against the Night.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Oct. 2026
  • Skipping furnace servicing can also heighten your risk of encountering problems like carbon monoxide leaks, poor air quality, and airflow, and inconsistent heating.
    — Abby Monteil, The Spruce, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of encountering
Verb
  • Jones said the potential consequences for policyholders could be severe if an insurer’s financial position deteriorated enough to stop it from meeting its obligations.
    — Joshua Hong, Fortune, 20 Oct. 2026
  • Consumers who desired perfect products used more filters and set higher cutoffs, narrowing their search to hotels that came closer to meeting their standards.
    — Aprajita Gautam, The Conversation, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of meeting
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

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

Cite this Entry

“Happening (upon).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/happening%20%28upon%29. Accessed 24 Oct. 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 puissant

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

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

'Can' vs. 'May'

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Words of the Week - Oct. 23

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

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

The Longest Long Words List

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
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All