(happens, happening, happened)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
Something that happens occurs or is done without being planned.
We cannot say for sure what will happen...
VERB: V
2.
If something happens, it occurs as a result of a situation or course of action.
She wondered what would happen if her parents found her...
He trotted to the truck and switched on the ignition. Nothing happened.
VERB: V, V
3.
When something, especially something unpleasant, happens to you, it takes place and affects you.
If we had been spotted at that point, I don't know what would have happened to us...
VERB: V to n
4.
If you happen to do something, you do it by chance. If it happens that something is the case, it occurs by chance.
We happened to discover we had a friend in common...
If it happens that I'm wanted badly somewhere, my mother will take the call and phone through to me here.
VERB: V to-inf, it V that
5.
You use as it happens in order to introduce a statement, especially one that is rather surprising.
She called Amy to see if she had any idea of her son's whereabouts. As it happened, Amy had.
PHRASE: V inflects, PHR with cl