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

Have people been coming up with conspiracy theories about the play? —Juan A. Ramírez, Vogue, 9 Jan. 2026

Andersen has also come up with a perfect ending, one that illustrates so much by saying so little. —Randy Myers, Mercury News, 8 Jan. 2026

Looking ahead, the Ramona Municipal Water District has several projects coming up. —Susan Gill Vardon, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Jan. 2026

Johnson came up with 12 points, nine rebounds and five steals for Hillcrest (15-5), putting her at 1,945 career points. —Jeff Vorva, Chicago Tribune, 8 Jan. 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