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

Our lead artist, Tom [Lucas], who came up with all the character designs, is a super-talented animator who brings that kind of graphic energy to them. — Destiny Jackson, Deadline, 1 Nov. 2026

Falcons come up empty On the first drive of the game, the Falcons got the ball to the Buccaneers 35, but Nick Folk missed a 53-yard field goal. — AJC.com, 1 Nov. 2026

Another car was coming up over the hill from the opposite direction. — Téa Obreht, New Yorker, 1 Nov. 2026

The Florida Lotto Double Play came up 1, 5, 13, 27, 30 and 35. — David J. Neal, Miami Herald, 1 Nov. 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