come by

verb

came by; come by; coming by; comes by

transitive verb

: to get possession of : acquire

a good job is hard to come by

intransitive verb

: to make a visit

came by after dinner

Synonyms

• call
• come over
• drop by
• drop in
• pop (in)
• run (over)
• run in
• step in
• stop (by or in)
• visit

Examples of come by in a Sentence

come by after work and I'll give you some clothes for the rummage sale

a literary award like that isn't easy to come by

Recent Examples on the Web

Mary was supposed to come by to pick up the neighbor’s son as part of a school carpool at 7:30 a.m. —Perry Vandell, The Arizona Republic, 17 Aug. 2024

As a result, its fossils are much harder to come by in the area. —Taylor Nicioli, CNN, 17 Aug. 2024

But the city is now scrambling to save the tradition as gondoliers are becoming harder to come by. —Prarthana Prakash, Fortune Europe, 16 Aug. 2024

The inflation crisis made discounts hard to come by, but that era is fading fast. —Nathan Bomey, Axios, 15 Aug. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Kids Definition

come by

verb

1

: to make a visit

come by after dinner

2

: acquire

good help is hard to come by