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

Phrases

come up empty

: to fail to achieve a desired result

come up with

: to produce especially in dealing with a problem or challenge

came up with a solution

Synonyms

• 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

The subject of Ukraine may also come up during the talks tomorrow, with Starmer keen to put more pressure on Russia to bring an end to the war. —Amanda Castro hannah Parry shane Croucher jack Royston, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 Sep. 2025

To this day, traditional schools have yet to come up with a model to identify and teach students with moderate to severe dyslexia. —Laura Cassidy, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025

And then the band came up on the platform. —Literary Hub, 17 Sep. 2025

Now he’s retired, so possibly that’s why his son has come up with this idea. —R. Eric Thomas, Mercury News, 16 Sep. 2025

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