come by

verb

came by; come by; coming by; comes by

transitive verb

: to get possession of : acquire

a good job is hard to come by

intransitive verb

: to make a visit

came by after dinner

Synonyms

• call
• come over
• drop by
• drop in
• pop (in)
• run (over)
• run in
• step in
• stop (by or in)
• visit

Examples of come by in a Sentence

come by after work and I'll give you some clothes for the rummage sale

a literary award like that isn't easy to come by

Recent Examples on the Web

The 49ers’ only divisional win this season came by outlasting the Seahawks 36-24 in a Thursday night, Oct. 10 visit to Seattle. —Cam Inman, The Mercury News, 16 Nov. 2024

Minutes could be hard to come by no matter a player’s pedigree. —Ben Bolch, Los Angeles Times, 5 Nov. 2024

Google’s big push comes by way of Android 15 with a raft of new updates, while Samsung is arguably doing more, clamping down on sideloading, defaulting to maximum restrictions and pushing its Knox ecosystem as an alternative to Apple’s equivalent. —Zak Doffman, Forbes, 5 Nov. 2024

During one planning session, Stanley came by to greet the conference organizers. —John Blake, CNN, 3 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Kids Definition

come by

verb

1

: to make a visit

come by after dinner

2

: acquire

good help is hard to come by