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

Decker and his 7-year-old son came up for three games between the two teams. —Paul Johnson, Chicago Tribune, 3 Apr. 2025

The revelation came up when Willis and Winkler Reinis discussed co-sleeping with their respective children. —Jay Stahl, USA Today, 3 Apr. 2025

This month, the artist has two exhibitions coming up, at the Art Expo New York opening on April 3 at Pier 36 and at Carlton Fine Arts on April 2, as part of an exhibition which runs until April 25. —Nadja Sayej, Forbes.com, 2 Apr. 2025

That would alleviate the pressure on Senate Republicans to come up with deep cuts to entitlement programs and other mandatory spending to offset the cost of extending the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act, which is due to expire at the end of this year. —Alexander Bolton, The Hill, 2 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

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

Rhymes for come up

• buttercup
• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup

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