come forward

phrasal verb

came forward; come forward; coming forward; comes forward

: to make the effort required to provide information, make a claim, volunteer, etc.

No one has yet come forward to claim the reward.

Essex Police is now appealing for anyone with information or dash cam footage of the crash to come forward and help with their inquiries.

—Alex Gidden

The young woman … had come forward after six months to accuse him of assault.

—Jules De Cinque

also : to become publicly known

While the case was dropped the prosecutor says if substantial evidence came forward this case could go to a trial in the future …

—Don Granese

Examples of come forward in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Other women sued Warner in the months after Wood came forward. —Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, arkansasonline.com, 25 Jan. 2025

The law extends the time victims have to come forward and get justice and was signed into law in California that year. —Charlotte Phillipp, People.com, 25 Jan. 2025

The musician, whose real name is Brian Warner, had been under investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department since 2021 after several women came forward to accuse him of rape and abuse. —James Queally, Los Angeles Times, 24 Jan. 2025

The teen later came forward to police, who were able to identify Niosi through electronic records, authorities said. —Nate Gartrell, The Mercury News, 24 Jan. 2025

Legal Definition

come forward

intransitive verb

come for·​ward

: to make a presentation of something to the court

—usually used with with

must come forward with materials to show that there is a genuine issue of fact

—J. H. Friedenthal et al.

coming forward with the evidence