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

These states were among the top 10 economies in the U.S., according to WalletHub: Washington Utah Massachusetts Texas California Colorado Florida North Carolina Washington D.C. Arizona How did WalletHub come up with its rankings? —Brianna Taylor, Sacramento Bee, 4 June 2024

After a season defined by miraculous wins, the No. 6 Bruins came up at least one comeback short, losing 3-1 in a Women’s College World Series elimination game to No. 8 Stanford on Sunday at Devon Park. —Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 3 June 2024

The topic came up on McAfee's show amid the discourse around Clark's relationship with other WNBA players, and two days after Chicago Sky guard Chennedy Carter committed a hard foul on Clark away from the ball. —Natasha Dye, Peoplemag, 3 June 2024

The issue has come up repeatedly over the last half century without a consensus resolution. —Peter Baker, New York Times, 2 June 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