Collocation Dictionary

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Common collocations with happen in American Collocation

happen verb intransitive

US /ˈhæpən/

really

actually
really

I can see no evidence of this actually happening.

quickly

overnight
quickly
suddenly

Organisational and cultural change never happens overnight.

often or usually

always
everywhere
frequently
normally
usually

Women are designed to have babies one at a time, and with natural conception this is what usually happens.

rarely or occasionally

occasionally
rarely
sometimes

Some film critics say great cinema happens only rarely.

by itself

automatically
naturally

Data backups on laptops do not happen automatically.

again

again

What can be done to ensure that disasters like this don’t happen again?

accident or bad event

accident
attack
catastrophe
collision
crash
disaster
earthquake
event
explosion
incident
mistake
seizure
tragedy

Did you know that most children’s accidents happen at home?

magical event

magic
miracle

I do believe that miracles happen.

change

change
evolution
revolution

It is only through the efforts of everyone that changes happen.

something or nothing

anything
everything
nothing
something

Any proposals have got to get the consent of all the parties, otherwise nothing happens.