Basic Details
Word: Occurred
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: Past tense of occur: happened or took place. It also means came into someone's mind.
Synonyms: happened, took place, arose
Word origin: From the Latin occurrere, 'to run towards', made of ob- 'towards' and currere 'to run'.
How to Spell Occurred
Syllables: oc - curred
Tricky part: There are two c's and two r's. The r doubles before ed because the stress falls on cur, as in preferred and referred.
Watch out for: occured, ocurred, occurrd
Memory tip: Count two pairs as you write: cc near the front, rr near the end, o-cc-u-rr-ed.
Usage Examples
Example 1: The accident occurred near the toll plaza.
Example 2: It never occurred to me to check the date on the ticket.
Example 3: A solar eclipse occurred over India in October 2022.
Fun Fact
The currere hidden in occurred also gave English current, courier and course - all words about running or flowing.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the meaning of the only misspelt word:
1. referred 2. occured 3. compelled 4. preferred
a) mentioned or pointed to something
b) forced someone to do something
c) liked one thing more than another
d) happened or took place
Show answer
d) happened or took place. Like preferred and referred, occurred doubles its r before ed.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
The power cut ocurred just as the final over began, so the whole colony gathered around one radio to hear the commentary.
a) colony
b) commentary
c) ocurred
d) final
Show answer
c) ocurred. The ob of the Latin root turned into oc before c, which is why occurred starts with two c's.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word occurred as it is used in the sentence:
A strange thing occurred during the morning assembly: a peacock walked onto the stage.
a) failed
b) disappeared
c) finished
d) happened
Show answer
d) happened. Something that occurred is something that happened.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. 'It never occurred to me to lock the door' means ____.
a) the door had no lock
b) the idea did not come into my mind
c) someone else locked it
d) I locked the door many times
Show answer
b) the idea did not come into my mind
2. Occurred is the past tense of ____.
a) incur
b) recur
c) occur
d) occupy
Show answer
c) occur
