Happened vs. occurred: what’s the difference?
The short answer
Occur is a more formal word for happen, common in writing and in reports (An error occurred). Happen is the everyday word. Occur to someone also has a meaning of its own, to come into someone’s mind (It occurred to me that…), and happen can’t be used that way.
What they have in common
Both happened and occurred are past tense verbs that describe events or incidents that took place.
Examples
happened
- I can’t believe what just happened.
- The accident happened suddenly.
- What happened at the meeting yesterday?
occurred
- The eclipse occurred around midnight.
- A significant error occurred during the experiment.
- It occurred to me that we might have missed something.
Which one is more common?
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