HAPPEN

happen, hap, go on, pass off, occur, pass, fall out, come about, take place

(verb) come to pass; “What is happening?”; “The meeting took place off without an incidence”; “Nothing occurred that seemed important”

happen, materialize, materialise

(verb) come into being; become reality; “Her dream really materialized”

happen, befall, bechance

(verb) happen, occur, or be the case in the course of events or by chance; “It happens that today is my birthday”; “These things befell” (Santayana)

find, happen, chance, bump, encounter

(verb) come upon, as if by accident; meet with; “We find this idea in Plato”; “I happened upon the most wonderful bakery not very far from here”; “She chanced upon an interesting book in the bookstore the other day”

happen

(verb) chance to be or do something, without intention or causation; “I happen to have just what you need!”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Verb

happen (third-person singular simple present happens, present participle happening, simple past and past participle happened)

(intransitive) To occur or take place.

Synonyms: come to pass, Thesaurus:happen

(transitive, archaic) To happen to; to befall.

(intransitive or impersonal, with infinitive) To do or occur by chance or unexpectedly.

(followed by on or upon) To encounter by chance.

Usage notes

• In the sense which indicates a chance occurrence, happen is a catenative verb that takes the to-infinitive. See English catenative verbs

Adverb

happen (not comparable)

(, obsolete or dialect) maybe, perhaps.

Source: Wiktionary

Hap"pen, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Happened; p. pr. & vb. n. Happening.] Etym: [OE. happenen, hapnen. See Hap to happen.]

1. To come by chance; to come without previous expectation; to fall out. There shall no evil happen to the just. Prov. xii. 21.

2. To take place; to occur. All these things which had happened. Luke xxiv. 14. To happen on, to meet with; to fall or light upon. "I have happened on some other accounts." Graunt.

– To happen in, to make a casual call. [Colloq.]

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition