adj
Meaning 1
Busy, lively; vibrant, dynamic; fashionable.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: slang
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
happening
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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Australian, Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ˈhæpɪnɪŋ/
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Australian, Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ˈhæpənɪŋ/
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Australian, Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation: [ˈhæpnɪŋ]
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Australian, Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation: [ˈhæpnɪn]
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California: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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CMU ARPABET: HH AE1 P AH0 N IH0 NG Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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CMU ARPABET 2: HH AE1 P N IH0 NG Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
adj
Meaning 2
Trendy, up-to-the-minute.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: slang
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
Something that happens.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: event, incident, affair, befalling, episode, goings-on, happening, hap, occasion, occurrence, proceeding
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
A spontaneous or improvised event, especially one that involves audience participation.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 5
present participle and gerund of happen
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: form-of, gerund, participle, present
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 6
an event that happens
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: occurrence, occurrent, natural event
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: event
Narrower terms: accompaniment, concomitant, attendant, co-occurrence, avalanche, experience, trouble, treat, miracle, wonder, marvel, thing, episode, eventuality, contingency, contingence, beginning, ending, conclusion, finish, one-off, periodic event, recurrent event, change, alteration, modification, error, computer error, accident, stroke, fortuity, chance event, fire, incident, discharge, case, instance, example, movement, motion, failure, success, appearance, destiny, fate, disappearance, contact, impinging, striking, collapse, interruption, break, sound, union, news event, flash, convergence, juncture, occasion, outburst, burst, flare-up, outbreak, eruption, irruption, reverse, reversal, setback, blow, black eye, boom, bonanza, gold rush, gravy, godsend, manna from heaven, windfall, bunce, crash, supervention
History
Etymology
From Middle English *happenynge, *happnynge. By surface analysis, happen + -ing.
From Middle English happenyng, equivalent to happen + -ing. As term used in performance art popularized by Allan Kaprow.
Across languages
Translations
26 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Finnish: tapahtuva — of a place: busy, lively
- Finnish: muodikas — of a person: trendy, up-to-the-minute
- Finnish: trendikäs — of a person: trendy, up-to-the-minute
- Japanese: おしゃれ (oshare) — of a person: trendy, up-to-the-minute
- Bulgarian: събитие (sǎbitie) — something that happens
- Bulgarian: случка (slučka) — something that happens
- Finnish: tapahtuma — something that happens
- Greek: γεγονός (gegonós) — something that happens
- Greek: συμβάν (symván) — something that happens
- Latvian: notikums — something that happens
- Lithuanian: įvykis — something that happens
- Lithuanian: atsitikimas — something that happens
- Plautdietsch: Väafaul — something that happens
- Polish: zdarzenie — something that happens
- Portuguese: acontecimento — something that happens
- Romanian: întâmplare — something that happens
- Scottish Gaelic: tuiteamas — something that happens
- Slovene: dogodek — something that happens
- Swedish: händelse — something that happens
- Swedish: skeende — something that happens
- Tocharian B: wäntare — something that happens
- Finnish: improvisoitu esitys — a spontaneous or improvised event, especially one that involves audience participation
- French: happening — a spontaneous or improvised event, especially one that involves audience participation
- German: Happening — a spontaneous or improvised event, especially one that involves audience participation
- Polish: happening — a spontaneous or improvised event, especially one that involves audience participation
- Scottish Gaelic: tuiteamas — a spontaneous or improvised event, especially one that involves audience participation
Real reading context