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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
Lily Mae Lazarus, Fortune, 20 Sep. 2025
Parasites are found throughout our natural world and occur in nearly every major animal group.
—Melissa Cristina Márquez, Forbes.com, 19 Sep. 2025
Trash trucks would not be in town on Saturday, according to the return-to-work agreement, and no curbside collection was scheduled to occur.
—Chris Van Buskirk, Boston Herald, 19 Sep. 2025
The shooting occurred at Evergreen High School in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.
—Lynn Kutter, Arkansas Online, 19 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for occur
Cite this Entry
“Occur.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/occur. Accessed 23 Sep. 2025.
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