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

Selena Gomez is opening up about her childhood crushes, and one name in particular came up as a surprise. —Amber Corrine, VIBE.com, 26 June 2025

After taking a moment to deliberate, Gomez came up with her answer: Ariana Grande. —Stephen Daw, Billboard, 26 June 2025

The question came up after her husband came to bed with hair that reeked of a campfire. —Rachel Flynn, People.com, 26 June 2025

Indianapolis has become a mecca for those activities as the home of the Indy 500 and the Pacers (who came up just short of winning the NBA crown this year). —Matthew Carey, Deadline, 25 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

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

Rhymes for come up

• buttercup
• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup

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