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 Toronto Blue Jays might have come up on the short end of the Juan Soto sweepstakes. —Gord Magill, Newsweek, 22 Dec. 2024

In the past month, protesters have come up with a wide range of unorthodox groupings. —John Yoon, New York Times, 22 Dec. 2024

Even if Mufasa comes up short this weekend, Disney is hopeful that business will bounce back from Christmas Day onward. —Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 20 Dec. 2024

When climate change came up during a debate, Vice President Kamala Harris took the opportunity to talk about record U.S. oil drilling. —Justin Worland, TIME, 20 Dec. 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