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

More than 3,000 survivors came forward with allegations against doctors, hospital systems, corrections departments, and more, many for the first time. — Linda B. Rosenthal, New York Daily News, 10 July 2026

One of the women interviewed by The Times was rightly disgusted at the treatment that Fifield had been subjected to, and came forward with even more details about her own encounter with Platner. — Bobby Zirkin, Baltimore Sun, 9 July 2026

According to 8 News Now, the league almost had to forfeit the rest of its season, but several organizations came forward to help. — Christine Pelisek, PEOPLE, 8 July 2026

Officials said this is still an open investigation and anyone with information related to this case or with knowledge of any crime should come forward and contact the Texas Department of Public Safety. — Fousia Abdullahi, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 4 July 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