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

That came up 10, 20, 27, 28, 33, matching a free Quick Pick ticket out of the machine at Fresco Y Mas, 8855 Coral Way aka SW 24th St. — David J. Neal, Miami Herald, 4 Oct. 2026

The Knights have lost two games after opponents came up with one-handed, game-winning catches in the closing seconds, making Friday’s blowout setback a bit of an aberration. — Jeff Vorva, Chicago Tribune, 4 Oct. 2026

The shoe is classified as a sandal style, but comes up to the knees like a boot. — Amina Ayoud, Footwear News, 4 Oct. 2026

One idea that came up in the chat was buying a signature-gathering firm that Regan had hired, in the hope of stopping the initiative. — Nicholas Lemann, New Yorker, 4 Oct. 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