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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.
Examples of occur in a Sentence
Sri Jegarajah,priyanka Salve, CNBC, 3 June 2026
But one of the most consequential occurred when Black Americans decided to vote with their feet.
—Theodore R. Johnson, Washington Post, 3 June 2026
This occurred one week before West and Amanda publicly announced their situationship on Instagram in a mealy-mouthed statement that sounded like it was written by ChatGPT.
—Marlow Stern, Variety, 3 June 2026
Most travelers surveyed said their biggest regrets occurred as young adults.
—Kathleen Wong, USA Today, 3 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for occur
Cite this Entry
“Occur.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/occur. Accessed 8 Jun. 2026.
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