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

Pittsburgh will come up against an Indianapolis Colts team on a journey to find its identity after three up-and-down performances so far. —Ben Morse, CNN, 29 Sep. 2024

Ideological differences among young people are coming up on first dates, and often complicating them. —Erica Pandey, Axios, 28 Sep. 2024

But he’s still had ample run-producing opportunities, averaging the second-most plate appearances with runners in scoring position on the team per game (only Teoscar Hernández comes up in such spots more often). —Jack Harris, Los Angeles Times, 28 Sep. 2024

Lo and behold, his name came up – on LinkedIn, of all places. —Eli Amdur, Forbes, 28 Sep. 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