come forward

phrasal verb

came forward; come forward; coming forward; comes forward

: to make the effort required to provide information, make a claim, volunteer, etc.

No one has yet come forward to claim the reward.

Essex Police is now appealing for anyone with information or dash cam footage of the crash to come forward and help with their inquiries.

—Alex Gidden

The young woman … had come forward after six months to accuse him of assault.

—Jules De Cinque

also : to become publicly known

While the case was dropped the prosecutor says if substantial evidence came forward this case could go to a trial in the future …

—Don Granese

Examples of come forward in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Actress Charisma Carpenter, who played Cordelia Chase, was the first person from the show to come forward with allegations. —Cara Tabachnick, CBS News, 26 Feb. 2025

Eventually, federal officials came forward and claimed that the whole situation had been part of an elaborate fraud. —Matt Stevens, New York Times, 25 Feb. 2025

More massage therapists have come forward since the original Baltimore Banner report with similar allegations. —Scott Thompson, Fox News, 25 Feb. 2025

Other people came forward, wanting to share their stories with her. —Lauren Migaki, NPR, 24 Feb. 2025

Rhymes for come forward

• carryforward
• equatorward
• henceforward
• straightforward
• thenceforward
• shoreward

Legal Definition

come forward

intransitive verb

come for·​ward

: to make a presentation of something to the court

—usually used with with

must come forward with materials to show that there is a genuine issue of fact

—J. H. Friedenthal et al.

coming forward with the evidence