occurred
4 synonyms for occurred, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Verb — Past tense and past participle of occur: happened or took place, usually without being planned.
Synonyms
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
happened
took place
arose
came about
How to use occurred
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
an error occurred
it occurred to me
occurred naturally
incidents occurred
Formal to neutral; standard in reports, science and journalism.
Etymology
From Latin occurrere, 'to run towards, present itself', from ob-, 'towards', and currere, 'to run'.
Full origin of occurred →Frequently asked questions
Is it occurred or occured?
Occurred, with a double 'r'. Because occur is stressed on the final syllable, the 'r' doubles before -ed and -ing: occurred, occurring. Occured is a spelling mistake.
What is the difference between occurred and happened?
They mean the same, but occurred is more formal and more common in writing about events, faults and data. Happened is the everyday spoken choice.
Can occur be used with a person as the subject?
Not in the sense of doing something. Events occur; people do not occur. The only common pattern involving a person is 'it occurred to me', where the idea, not the person, is the subject.
