Occur Meaning
/əˈkɜː/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo happen or take place.
verbTo present or offer itself.
Sentence Examples
An emergency may occur at any time.
According to some scholars, a major earthquake could occur at any moment now.
When exactly did the incident occur?
CEFR Practice Quiz
A volcanic eruption can ____ without warning during the night.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Earthquakes ____ frequently in this region because it is located near a major tectonic fault line.
Word Origin & History
Originally "meet (in argument)", borrowed from Middle French occurrer, from Latin occurrō (“run to meet, run against, befall, present itself”) from prefix ob- (“against”) + verb currō (“run, hurry, move”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"And no use for anyone to tell Charles that this was because the Family was in mourning for Mr Granville Darracott […]: Charles might only have been second footman at Darracott Place for a couple of months when that disaster occurred, but no one could gammon him into thinking that my lord cared a spangle for his heir."
— 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:
"Apparently it never occurs to them that you can't make rapid, drastic changes in the technology and the economy of a society without causing rapid changes in all other aspects of the society as well, […]"
— 1995, Theodore Kaczynski, Industrial Society and Its Future:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
A volcanic eruption can ____ without warning during the night.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Earthquakes ____ frequently in this region because it is located near a major tectonic fault line.