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

However, that came to a crashing halt last week when a relative came forward and detailed years of molestation in the 1990s, including after Torres turned 18 and the victim was underage. —Devan Patel, The Mercury News, 12 Nov. 2024

Glendale police has asked the public to come forward with any information about the missing truck. —Karen Bartunek, The Arizona Republic, 6 Nov. 2024

The recent surge in high-profile cases offers hope that the #MeToo momentum is encouraging more victims and witnesses to come forward to hold perpetrators accountable for these crimes. —Kim Elsesser, Forbes, 1 Nov. 2024

In July 2024, more than a dozen former employees of the SeaQuest location in Folsom, California, came forward to ABC's Sacramento affiliate KXTV with allegations of neglect at that location. —Julia Jacobo, ABC News, 31 Oct. 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