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 Boston Red Sox came up short in their free-agent pursuit of outfielder Juan Soto. —Joseph Epstein, Newsweek, 11 Dec. 2024

Of course, his work with one of Hollywood’s biggest stars also came up, Tom Cruise. —Georg Szalai, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Dec. 2024

The 5-foot-7 Cooper came up with six points and three rebounds in that stretch. —Jeff Vorva, Chicago Tribune, 10 Dec. 2024

After meticulously scanning its internal data from September 2022 to August 2024, Pinterest came up with a list of must-know trends expected to take hold in 2025. —Isabella Milano, Better Homes & Gardens, 10 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