as in to find
to come upon unexpectedly or by chance
the popular belief that Sir Isaac Newton hit upon his understanding of gravity at the sight of an apple falling from a tree
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hit (upon)
Verb
-
Clarendon Hills found itself in the elimination bracket by virtue of a 16-1 loss Wednesday to the Mountain Region and Nevada State champion from Las Vegas, which improved to 2-0 Saturday with a 5-3 win over the Northwest Region champs from Washington.—
Chuck Fieldman,
Chicago Tribune,
17 Aug. 2025 -
Du Plessis – who was making the third defense of his belt – had no answer to Chimaev’s grappling and found himself on the mat within the opening minute of the fight.—
Jamie Barton,
CNN Money,
17 Aug. 2025
Verb
-
Coming back from space, the ship encounters much higher temperatures than the booster sees at lower velocities.—
Stephen Clark,
ArsTechnica,
15 Aug. 2025
-
Investigators encounter them at multiple times in human history.—
Rob Wieland,
Forbes.com,
15 Aug. 2025
Verb
-
Some of them are coming across the region to descend on places like the Navy Yard.—
Peter D'Abrosca,
FOXNews.com,
13 Aug. 2025
-
Fans renting the AirBnb may come across stars walking the grounds.—
Bryan West,
The Tennessean,
13 Aug. 2025
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
“Hit (upon).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hit%20%28upon%29. Accessed 21 Aug. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share