as in encountering
to come upon face-to-face or as if face-to-face
happened upon the hotel manager in the lobby and promptly complained about the room
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for happening (upon)
Verb
-
Upon arrival, crews found light smoke conditions at a single-family residence, quickly encountering increasing smoke coming from a second-floor bedroom, the news release said.—
Aurora Beacon-News,
Chicago Tribune,
9 Feb. 2026 -
The latter sees a faded star eyeing a possible comeback and encountering all sorts of ghosts from his past.—
Marta Balaga,
Variety,
6 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
In another document in the most recent release of the Epstein files, Google co-founder Sergey Brin emailed with Epstein’s girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, about meeting up with Epstein during a trip to New York in 2003, well before Epstein’s 2008 guilty plea.—
David Ingram,
NBC news,
5 Feb. 2026
-
Indeed, the old regs were an indirect way of promoting electrification, as car companies stood little chance of meeting them without battery power or drastic lineup reworkings.—
Caleb Jacobs,
The Drive,
5 Feb. 2026
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Cite this Entry
“Happening (upon).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/happening%20%28upon%29. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
