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befall

[bih-fawl] / bɪˈfɔl /


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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"We wake up wondering what new disaster is going to befall Auroville," its French-language magazine declared in December.

From Barron's Jun. 25, 2026

European elections keep rolling around whether anyone wants them or not, and the next will befall the U.K. in early May.

From The Wall Street Journal Apr. 16, 2026

That worry is the massive drop-off in proven quality at international level should any misfortune befall England captain and record goalscorer Harry Kane.

From BBC Mar. 20, 2026

How has she dealt with the fallow periods that befall every actor?

From Los Angeles Times Dec. 3, 2025

"And Tommen is heir, should anything ill befall His Grace. Tommen, whose nature is so sweet, and notably . . . tractable."

From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin

When a tragedy befalls Elias-Clarke and a new CEO is tapped to take over, it’s not just Miranda who’s in trouble, but Runway and its publisher’s storied legacy, too.

From Salon May 6, 2026

Carthage’s deeper tragedy lies in the subsequent erasure of its history, language and culture, not in its physical destruction, which befalls all empires.

From The Wall Street Journal Feb. 11, 2026

The witches are thus active instruments in the fate that befalls Macbeth, making him somewhat more of a puppet of their otherworldly mischief than a closer reading of the text might bear out.

From Los Angeles Times Feb. 19, 2025

A magnetic field around any of these structures would form a continuous tangent vector field, and at this point we know what befalls such hairy constructions.

From Scientific American Aug. 18, 2023

"Take my betrothed back to the castle, and see that no harm befalls her," the prince told him brusquely.

From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin

The incident that eventually befell Price took place in July 2015.

From The Wall Street Journal Apr. 16, 2026

Because, for veterans of modern warfare, the question isn’t how to come to grips with something that befell us in the manner of a natural disaster.

From Slate Mar. 16, 2026

She will be desperate to avoid the disaster that befell hot men's favourite Ilia Malinin, who suffered a nightmare last week, slumping to an eighth-place finish.

From Barron's Feb. 17, 2026

The issue also befell the German team who won bronze in the biathlon.

From BBC Feb. 9, 2026

The Aleuts also watched our village, otherwise they would not have known about the good fortune which befell us soon after they came.

From "Island of the Blue Dolphins" by Scott O'Dell

Rodríguez, who could use the crisis to strengthen her hold on power, has highlighted the successes of the response while acknowledging the grave catastrophe that had befallen her country.

From The Wall Street Journal Jun. 26, 2026

"This is a devastating tragedy that has befallen the Reiner family," he said.

From Barron's Dec. 17, 2025

In her essay, Schlossberg acknowledged that her terminal illness adds to a string of tragedies that has befallen the famous political family.

From Los Angeles Times Nov. 22, 2025

All the plans, in their own very different ways, hope to salvage something out of the calamity that has befallen Gaza over the past two years.

From BBC Sep. 21, 2025

But you, Beregond, should return to the Citadel and tell the chief of the Guard there what has befallen.

From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien

She imagined something terrible befalling her, and her parents discovering her mounting credit-card bills.

From The Wall Street Journal May 29, 2026

If we speak about 1929 perhaps we believe we will avoid a similar fate befalling us.

From MarketWatch Oct. 20, 2025

That defeat would have paled when set beside the one that looked like befalling Scotland now.

From BBC Feb. 3, 2024

The film lost its funding, with bad luck and accidents befalling the people who worked on it for years afterward.

From Los Angeles Times Jul. 17, 2023

“Do not speak of ill befalling you,” Taran cried.

From "The Black Cauldron" by Lloyd Alexander




Vocabulary lists containing befall


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