# occurring

/əˈkɝɪŋ/ (US) · /əkˈɜːɹɪŋ/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/occurring
Updated: 2026-06-20

## Senses

### 1. happening

verb · CEFR B1

happening or taking place, especially at a specific time.

For teachers: the act of taking place or happening; often used to describe events or incidents.

- The police are investigating several crimes occurring in the city centre this week.
- The report highlights several technical failures occurring simultaneously during the launch sequence, which ultimately led to the mission's cancellation.

Usage: Often used in the continuous form to describe ongoing trends or repeated incidents.

### 2. existing or found

verb · CEFR B2 · Academic

existing or being found in a particular place or group.

For teachers: existing or being present within a specific environment, substance, or population.

- These rare plants are only found occurring naturally in this specific forest.
- The researchers identified high levels of the mineral occurring in the groundwater samples collected near the industrial site.

Usage: Commonly used with the adverb 'naturally'.

### 3. an event

noun · CEFR C1 · Formal

an instance of something happening; an event.

For teachers: a specific instance or occurrence of an event or phenomenon.

- The sudden occurring of the storm caught the hikers by surprise.
- The frequent occurring of these errors suggests a fundamental flaw in the software's architecture.

Usage: As a gerund-noun, it is less common than 'occurrence'.

### 4. happening in a certain way

adjective · CEFR C1 · Academic · Technical

used with another word to describe how often or where something happens.

For teachers: functioning as a participial adjective, typically in compound forms, to describe the manner or frequency of an event.

- The naturally occurring gases in the cave can be dangerous to breathe.
- The study focused on co-occurring disorders among patients in the psychiatric ward.

## Examples

- The festival is occurring right now in the city center.
- Scientists are monitoring the rare weather patterns occurring along the coast this month.
- While these chemical reactions are occurring constantly within the human body, they are often too subtle to be detected without specialized medical equipment.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.