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

Angie Marchese, vice president of archives and exhibits at Graceland, came up with a few more boxes of unseen footage, a stash of Super 8 movies of Elvis that included rare footage of Elvis with his wife, Priscilla Presley, and only child, Lisa Marie Presley. —Peter Larsen, Daily News, 24 Feb. 2026

Scientists at Rice University came up with a quick fix for superhydrophobic surfaces by experimenting with the material’s heat flow rather than focusing solely on its chemistry and texture. —Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 24 Feb. 2026

Derfield applied for use of the space when the opportunity came up in 2024. —Sean Timberlake, Sacbee.com, 24 Feb. 2026

But Garvey came up well short against Democrat incumbent Adam Schiff that year. —Jackson Thompson, FOXNews.com, 24 Feb. 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