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

Affordable housing is tough to come by, with median house sales prices in Otter Tail at around $303,000 in March, up 33% year-over-year, according to Redfin. —Nick Fouriezos, USA TODAY, 27 Apr. 2024

Naomi Campbell came by and caught me learning to climb the steps, one by one. —Hamish Bowles, Vogue, 25 Apr. 2024

Affordable apartments are hard to come by in Fort Lauderdale, where the median rent is $3,000, according to Zillow. —Raisa Habersham, Miami Herald, 24 Apr. 2024

But in the private markets, as a reporter, brass tacks numbers on how startups and the VC firms that back them are performing are a whole lot harder to come by. —Allie Garfinkle, Fortune, 24 Apr. 2024

They both have been burned by betrayal and loss, so trust is hard to come by. —Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 16 Apr. 2024

Five came by the end of her sophomore year, leading to her college commitment to Cal. —Glae Thien, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Apr. 2024

But work has been hard to come by and so has money. —Nicole Goodkind, CNN, 14 Apr. 2024

According to News 5 Cleveland, Stark County resident Melanie Crews came by the building last week to pick up two Narcan boxes, each of which contains two doses. —Erin Clack, Peoplemag, 13 Apr. 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