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

see also:

come up empty come up with

Synonyms of come up

• come
• draw on
• close
• approach
• close in

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 Northwestern defense came up with another fourth-down stop to open the third quarter, but the Wildcats gave the ball back when Caleb Komolafe fumbled at the Colorado 34. — Colleen Kane, Chicago Tribune, 20 Sep. 2026

Bray, guarded tight by a Virginia Cavalier, somehow came up with it for the 38-yard reception. — Charlotte Observer, 20 Sep. 2026

After the Hornets came up just short of converting a fourth-and-7 early in the second half, the Bulls (3-0) went 61 yards with Crowther scoring on a 39-yard run for a 35-17 lead. — ABC News, 20 Sep. 2026

And again, there’s just solutions, there’s technological solutions for hard problems coming up all the time. — Mike Ryan, IndieWire, 20 Sep. 2026

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