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

Lam came up in the early 2000s alongside a generation of New York labels that included Proenza Schouler, Jason Wu, Thakoon, and Phillip Lim. — Lisa Lockwood, Footwear News, 28 Sep. 2026

When the Panthers came up empty on their final two drives, the game was over. — Charlotte Observer, 27 Sep. 2026

So, Murphy went for it on the final play and McDowell came up golden. — Jeff Vorva, Chicago Tribune, 26 Sep. 2026

The mostly male, mostly young consumers of this content came up in the pandemic days of meme stock windfalls, speculative crypto investments, and hypebeast product drops. — Adam Erace, Fortune, 26 Sep. 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