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

He was taken into the shelter's care after no microchip was detected, and no one came forward to claim him. —Saman Shafiq, USA Today, 15 June 2025

The complete list of victims has not been released, but family members and loved ones have come forward to identify them. —Charlotte Phillipp, People.com, 14 June 2025

The Trump administration urged countries last week to come forward with deals more favorable to U.S. interests. —Elizabeth Crisp, The Hill, 9 June 2025

Shedding that remove allows those inner worlds to come forward, however painfully. —Danielle Ofri, New Yorker, 7 June 2025

Rhymes for come forward

• carryforward
• equatorward
• henceforward
• straightforward
• thenceforward
• shoreward

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