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Happen vs Underway - What's the difference?

happen | underway |

As nouns the difference between happen and underway

is that happen is morsel while underway is a road, track, path, or street for going under another way or obstacle.

As an adverb underway is

in motion, in progress; being done or carried out.

happen

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • To occur or take place.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-28, author=(Joris Luyendijk)
    • , volume=189, issue=3, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Our banks are out of control , passage=Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic who still resists the idea that something drastic needs to happen for him to turn his life around.}}
  • To occur unexpectedly, by chance or with a low probability.
  • To encounter by chance.
  • * 1860 , , The Marble Faun , ch. 30:
    • Unexpectedly, in a nook close by the farmhouse, he happened upon a spot where the vintage had actually commenced.

    Usage notes

    * This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . See

    Derived terms

    * as it happens * happen along * happener * happeningly * it so happens

    Related terms

    * * happenstance

    Adverb

    (-)
  • (obsolete or dialect) maybe, perhaps.
    • English catenative verbs 1000 English basic words ----

    underway

    English

    Alternative forms

    * under way * under weigh * underweigh

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • a road, track, path, or street for going under another way or obstacle
  • :* {{quote-book
    • , year=2005 , year_published= , edition= , editor= , author=Donovan L. Hofsommer , title=Minneapolis and the Age of Railways , chapter=Adrift citation , genre= , publisher=Univ. of Minnesota Press , isbn=9780816645015 , page=152 , passage=As Minneapolis grew, the city demanded that M&StL construct "underways " beneath city roadways. }}
  • an underground passage, tunnel
  • :* {{quote-book
    • , year=2004 , year_published= , edition= , editor= , author=Alan Goldfein , title=Europe's Macadam, America's Tar: How America Really Compares to "Old Europe" , chapter=A Wonderful Drive citation , genre= , publisher=American Editions , isbn=9783000143571 , page=46 , passage=There are in fact many such subterranean underways in Germany, speeding traffic beneath bergs, burgs and villages and into and around and under big city downtowns ... }}
  • a voyage, especially underwater
  • :* {{quote-book
    • , year=2008 , year_published= , edition= , editor= , author=Alfred Scott McLaren, William R. Anderson , title=Unknown Waters: A First-Hand Account of the Historic Under-ice Survey of the Siberian Continental Shelf by USS Queenfish (SSN-651) , chapter=To Severnaya Zemlya and the Beginning of the Shelf Survey citation , genre= , publisher=Univ. of Alabama Press , isbn=9780817316020 , page=179 , passage=I had been the diving officer on three previous submarines, … , and was an experienced officer of the deck with many underways and landings under my belt on all three.}}
  • (computer science) subroutine
  • :* {{quote-book
    • , year=2003 , year_published= , edition= , editor=Marvin Zelkowitz , author= , title=Advances in Computers: Information Repositories , chapter=Chapter 5 Are Scripting Languages Any Good? , url= , genre= , publisher=Academic Press , isbn=9780120121571 , page=226 , passage=However, the class of programs represented by the phonecode task is rather large and common, especially in an area for which script languages are often used, namely transcribing text files from one format into another, perhaps including some semantic processing underways . }}

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • in motion, in progress; being done or carried out
  • :* {{quote-web
    • , date= 2008-02-14 , year= , first=Steve , last=Lohr , author= , authorlink= , title=Offshore Outsourcing’s Next Wave: How High? , site=NY Times citation , archiveorg= , accessdate=2012-01-22 , passage=The next wave, well underway , is shipping back-office business tasks overseas, ... }}