befall

verb/bɪˈfɔl/

Frequency rank: #16,922 of 20,003 in the WORDED list (wordfreq data)

Meaning

(of something bad) to happen to someone or something.

Illustration for the English word “befall”

Example sentence

Nobody could have predicted the tragedy that would befall the small village that winter.

Synonyms & related words

More words in ranks 16,901–17,000