come by

verb

came by; come by; coming by; comes by
Synonyms of come bynext

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

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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Their two losses have each come by one point. Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News, 26 Apr. 2026 Hits were hard to come by for both teams most of Sunday afternoon. Lamond Pope, Chicago Tribune, 26 Apr. 2026 On the other end, in a matchup where offense was predictably hard to come by, Carolina’s second line of Stankoven, Hall and Jackson Blake led the way. Julian McKenzie, New York Times, 26 Apr. 2026 So a creature like an octopus — which is made up of almost entirely soft tissue — has been harder to come by in the fossil record. Ari Daniel, NPR, 24 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for come by

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Time Traveler
The first known use of come by was in the 14th century

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Come by.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/come%20by. Accessed 29 Apr. 2026.

Kids Definition

come by

verb
1
: to make a visit
come by after dinner
2
: acquire
good help is hard to come by
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