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The Meaning of Occur and the Spelling of Its Forms
Occur has three meanings. It means "to be found or met with; appear," as in "a phenomenon that occurs around the world"; it means "to come into existence; happen," as in "an event that occurred on Friday"; and it means "to come to mind," as in "it occurs to me that the word is quite useful."
It's an unusual-looking word, being so small but with two c's up against each other, and then just a simple r at the end. The r is doubled, though, for the past tense: occurred. And the double r continues in the present participle: occurring.
Synonyms
Examples of occur in a Sentence
Jasmine Laws, Newsweek, 1 Jan. 2025
The exchange of fire occurred as the Houthis launched their fifth missile attack on Israel in a week, despite increasingly strong warnings from Israeli officials.
—Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, arkansasonline.com, 1 Jan. 2025
Launch occurred from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 7:52 p.m.
—Richard Tribou, Orlando Sentinel, 1 Jan. 2025
Then an event occurred that changed both our lives.
—David A. Ross, Artforum, 1 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for occur 
Dictionary Entries Near occur
Cite this Entry
“Occur.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/occur. Accessed 8 Jan. 2025.
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