Library / English Dictionary

BEFALL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: befallen    , befell   

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Happen, occur, or be the case in the course of events or by chance

Example:

These things befell

Synonyms:

bechance; befall; happen

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "befall" is one way to...):

come about; fall out; go on; hap; happen; occur; pass; pass off; take place (come to pass)

Verb group:

happen (chance to be or do something, without intention or causation)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Become of; happen to

Example:

What has become of my children?

Synonyms:

bechance; befall; betide

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "befall" is one way to...):

come about; fall out; go on; hap; happen; occur; pass; pass off; take place (come to pass)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Credits

 Context examples: 

This was no new arrangement, but a thing that had befallen many scores of times.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Heavy misfortunes have befallen us, but let us only cling closer to what remains and transfer our love for those whom we have lost to those who yet live.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

I was not born for a different destiny to the rest of my species: to imagine such a lot befalling me is a fairy tale—a day-dream.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Such a sad blow has befallen us. Mr. Hawkins has died very suddenly.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Perhaps the tragedy which had befallen one of them had driven them from their feeding-ground.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And, as it happened, I was very soon to have another peep at it, for a most unexpected event befell us as we drew up in front of the Crown hotel.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I come now to the relation of a misfortune, which about this time befell Mrs. John Dashwood.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Then he saw that no harm befell the dogs that were near to them, and he came in closer.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

He promised to communicate with me, when anything befell him; and he slung his bag about him, took his hat and stick, and bade us both “Good-bye!”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It would be the worst fate that could befall me.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)