come about

verb

came about; come about; coming about; comes about

intransitive verb

1

: happen

2

: to change direction

the wind has come about into the north

3

: to shift to a new tack

Synonyms of come about

• happen
• be
• come down
• come
• occur

Examples of come about in a Sentence

how did all this come about?

Recent Examples on the Web

The exhibition comes about two years after Brown began fully embracing her identity as a trans woman. — Kansas City Star, 8 July 2026

By decade’s end, however, the idea of continuing the Evil Dead franchise after Army of Darkness was in limbo until the idea of reimaging the original Evil Dead movie came about. — Tim Lammers, Forbes.com, 8 July 2026

New Glenn explodes on launch pad in Florida The news comes about a month after the New Glenn rocket exploded in Florida, dealing severe damage to the surrounding infrastructure in Cape Canaveral. — Eric Lagatta, USA Today, 8 July 2026

The influx of ex-big leaguers in Mexico is due to a confluence of factors, some of which came about with changes MLB made to its minor leagues ahead of the 2021 season, when 40 teams were contracted and rosters were capped. — Brittany Ghiroli, New York Times, 1 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for come about

• bailout
• blackout
• blowout
• breakout
• burnout
• buyout
• checkout
• closeout
• cutout
• devout
• dropout
• dugout

Kids Definition

come about

verb

1

: happen sense 2

2

: to change direction

the wind has come about into the north