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

The other thing that keeps coming up is all of these conservative, right-wing influencers that made it into the DNC. —Leah Feiger, WIRED, 22 Aug. 2024

Another guy only talked about himself for over an hour and basically never came up for air. —Kayla Blanton, SELF, 19 Aug. 2024

At Fresno's Fort Miller Middle School, where half the students were chronically absent, two reasons kept coming up: dirty laundry and no transportation. —Jocelyn Gecker, arkansasonline.com, 17 Aug. 2024

Lawyers with the firm also donated to Feldstein Soto’s 2022 campaign, which came up as part of Tyler’s claim for damages. —David Zahniser, Los Angeles Times, 17 Aug. 2024

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