come up

verb

came up; come up; coming up; comes up

intransitive verb

1
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

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 Then, come up with new story ideas that meet those needs by sharing your knowledge. Rhea Wessel, Forbes, 23 Oct. 2024 In one experiment, conducted last month, the chatbot came up with advice on how to launder money across borders, according to Strise. Anna Cooban, CNN, 23 Oct. 2024 If anything, Menon adds, the furore over Labour members campaigning may have less to do with genuine concerns of foreign interference and more to do with the Trump campaign’s desire to lay the groundwork for future legal complaints should their candidate come up short. Yasmeen Serhan, TIME, 23 Oct. 2024 Fans who plan to see the game live at Chavez Ravine may already be trying to come up with the best strategy to get to the stadium ahead of the 5 p.m. start time and avoid Los Angeles’ notoriously nasty traffic — not to mention the exorbitant parking rates at the stadium. Karen Garcia, Los Angeles Times, 23 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for come up 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'come up.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

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

Time Traveler
The first known use of come up was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near come up

Cite this Entry

“Come up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/come%20up. Accessed 4 Nov. 2024.

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

More from Merriam-Webster on come up

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