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

All this could be a lot to swallow, both when Stewart was coming up and now. —Constance Grady, Vox, 4 Nov. 2024

Unfortunately for Sony, Peter and Jon did not come up with any blockbusters during their tenure at Sony Pictures. —Kim Masters, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Nov. 2024

Week 2: Texans 19, Bears 13 The Bears offense and quarterback Caleb Williams came up short on a national stage at NRG Stadium in a 19-13 Texans victory. —Chicago Tribune, 4 Nov. 2024

Here are some of the stocks on came up on Goldman’s screen: Plus-size apparel retailer Torrid , down 42% this year, was one name in the basket. —Lisa Kailai Han, CNBC, 4 Nov. 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