Befall Meaning
/bɪˈfɔːl/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo fall upon; fall all over; overtake.
verbTo happen.
Sentence Examples
No harm shall befall thee.
Protesters Sunday expressed some worry the same fate will befall the new wave of demonstrations.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
A terrible disaster might ____ the village if the dam breaks.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We hoped that no serious regular misfortune would ____ the young family.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English bifallen, from Old English befeallan, from Proto-West Germanic *bifallan, from Proto-Germanic *bifallaną; equivalent to be- + fall.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"It befell in the days of Uther Pendragon [...] that there was a mighty duke in Cornwall that held war against him long time."
— 1485 July 26, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter I, in William Caxton, editor, Le Morte D’Arthur, volume 1:
"But as soon as her son espied her, bowl in hand, he thought that haply something untoward had befallen her, but he would not ask of aught until such time as she had set down the bowl, when she acquainted him with that which had occurred[…]"
— 1885–1888, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume (please specify the volume), [London]: […] Burton Club […], →OCLC:
"I beseech your grace that I may know / The worst that may befall me."
— c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
"As we’ve said before, with the exception of communism itself, the euro has been the biggest economic catastrophe to befall the continent (and the world) since the 1930s."
— 2013 April 15, Walter Russell Mead, “The Wreck of the Euro”, in The American Interest, retrieved 16 Apr 2013:
"This wasn't the last tragedy to befall Reading. There were fatal accidents involving trains in 1855 and 1914, while on a lesser scale T E Lawrence (of Arabia) lost his precious manuscript of Seven Pillars of Wisdom when changing trains in 1919."
— 2021 December 29, Stephen Roberts, “Stories and facts behind railway plaques: Reading (1840)”, in Rail, number 947, page 57:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
A terrible disaster might ____ the village if the dam breaks.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We hoped that no serious regular misfortune would ____ the young family.