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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
Jessica Wang, EW.com, 5 July 2024
Other locations could see same melt The researchers believe melting also could occur in similar icefields elsewhere across Alaska and Canada, as well as Greenland, Norway and other high-Arctic locations.
—Doyle Rice, USA TODAY, 5 July 2024
In Natural Settings The other bear encounter scenario is one that occurs in a bear’s natural setting, like a wooded area or hiking trail.
—Kait Hanson, Southern Living, 5 July 2024
To date, the quarry hasn’t issued any payments, arguing that none of the damage residents have noticed can be attributed to their mining, because its blasts occur within regulated levels.
—Christine Condon, Baltimore Sun, 5 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for occur 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'occur.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near occur
Cite this Entry
“Occur.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/occur. Accessed 15 Jul. 2024.
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