Repeated: happening, said or done many times

Question

Hello.re•peated adj. [only before noun] happening, said or done many times.Oxford Dictionary.I can't understand why it is said happening and not  happened (like said and done).

Avangi · Accepted Answer

JesusenglandHello.
re•peated adj. [only before noun] happening, said or done many times.

Oxford Dictionary.

I can't understand why it is said happening and not happened (like said and done).
Good question. This is a very restricted definition "adj. [only before noun]"

When we make adjectives out of verbs (eg., "to repeat") we typically use the past and present participles:
This is a repeated pattern. This is a repeating pattern.

Then we get into the business of the pattern to be plus adjective vs. passive voice verb.

This is repeated many times.

This is said many times.

This is done many times.

~~This is happened many times.~~ This is happening many times.

The definition is rendered in the present tense.

You may say in the past tense, "This has happened many times," but in this case it's a verb, past perfect tense.

But the definition is for "repeated" as an adjective, used before a noun.

This is a repeated pattern.

I think in explaining the sense of a term, dictionaries often use "synonyms" without necessarily copying the syntax of the word being defined.

repeated = said many times - A repeated statement is said many times.

repeated = done many times - A repeated exercise is done many times.

repeated = happening many times - A repeated phenomenon (earthquake aftershock) is happening many times. (happens many times)

Yes, it's problematic. It would sound better to say, "A repeating phenomenon," but that's not the adjective we're defining. You can't say "is happened."

I guess really what it comes down to is that "to say" and "to do" are transitive verbs, while "to happen" is an intransitive verb. A perfectly parallel structure just doesn't work here.

There's sort of a passive voice structure implied in the definition (is done, is said), and an intransitive verb (to happen) can't be used in the passive voice.

Repeated: happening, said or done many times

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