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

On the heels of those announcements, several more institutions have come forward this month with new tuition deals. —Michael T. Nietzel, Forbes, 20 Dec. 2024

Dozens of accusers, including some minors, have come forward claiming they were drugged and assaulted. —Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY, 19 Dec. 2024

Police have asked anyone who might be able to help with the case to come forward. —Becca Longmire, People.com, 18 Dec. 2024

An additional survivor of abuse came forward to file a lawsuit. —Longreads, 18 Dec. 2024

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