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

Phrases

come up empty

: to fail to achieve a desired result

come up with

: to produce especially in dealing with a problem or challenge

came up with a solution

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

The head to head with Notre Dame comes up. —Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 12 Nov. 2025

The show, which is coming up on its 20th anniversary, is riding high on a ratings wave, charming young viewers with a cast catered to their interests, but relying on the same basic formula that keeps loyal network watchers coming back. —Anna Kaufman, USA Today, 12 Nov. 2025

Perhaps Herbert's name will come up more as the regular season comes to a close. —Scott Thompson, FOXNews.com, 12 Nov. 2025

Opponents are scoring on only 72% of their red zone opportunities, and BYU has done a tremendous job of forcing teams to settle for field goals or coming up with stops on fourth down. —Steven Johnson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 12 Nov. 2025

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