come up

verb

came up; come up; coming up; comes up

intransitive verb

1

: rise sense 6

2

: to come near : make an approach

came up and introduced himself

3

: to rise in rank or status

an officer who came up from the ranks

4

a

: to come to attention or consideration

the question never came up

b

: to occur in the course of time

any problem that may come up

5

: to turn out to be

the coin came up tails

6

chiefly dialectal : grow up

Phrases

come up empty

: to fail to achieve a desired result

come up with

: to produce especially in dealing with a problem or challenge

came up with a solution

Synonyms

• approach
• belly up
• close
• close in
• draw on
• near
• nigh

Examples of come up in a Sentence

the girl came up to the counter and asked if she could have her order prepared to go

let me know if anything else comes up during the project

Recent Examples on the Web

Notre Dame is going to have to come up with some answers in the passing game. —NBC News, 10 Jan. 2025

The designer recalled how Melania Trump used to come up to the Nicole Miller showroom as a model for castings. —Rosemary Feitelberg, WWD, 9 Jan. 2025

So that was fun to kind of come up with [Shelly’s] audition scene together. —Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times, 9 Jan. 2025

It was just motivated by so much fun and enthusiasm by all parties, that that kind of just kept propelling us, no matter when, a little logistical challenge came up. —Michael Schneider, Variety, 9 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

come up

verb

1

: rise entry 1 sense 4

the sun comes up in an hour

2

: to come near or approach

came up and introduced himself

3

: to come to attention : introduce sense 4

the question came up again