come forward

verb

came forward; come forward; coming forward; comes forward

: to make the effort required to provide information, make a claim, volunteer, etc.

No one has yet come forward to claim the reward.

Essex Police is now appealing for anyone with information or dash cam footage of the crash to come forward and help with their inquiries.

—Alex Gidden

The young woman … had come forward after six months to accuse him of assault.

—Jules De Cinque

also : to become publicly known

While the case was dropped the prosecutor says if substantial evidence came forward this case could go to a trial in the future …

—Don Granese

Examples of come forward in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The uniform lessons came forward as part of a state takeover of Fort Worth ISD that was implemented due to years of lagging academic performance districtwide. — Lina Ruiz october 9, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9 Oct. 2026

Other women the brothers preyed on came forward to the authorities, around 40 in all. — Etan Vlessing, HollywoodReporter, 8 Oct. 2026

But students like Choudhury worry the lack of information could keep future victims from coming forward. — Marissa Armas, CBS News, 5 Oct. 2026

The majority of the meeting was off the record, so students could come forward and share freely. — Gloria Pazmino, CNN Money, 2 Oct. 2026

Rhymes for come forward

• carryforward
• equatorward
• henceforward
• straightforward
• thenceforward
• shoreward

Legal Definition

come forward

intransitive verb

come for·​ward

: to make a presentation of something to the court

—usually used with with

must come forward with materials to show that there is a genuine issue of fact

—J. H. Friedenthal et al.

coming forward with the evidence