come about

verb

came about; come about; coming about; comes about

intransitive verb

1

: happen

2

: to change direction

the wind has come about into the north

3

: to shift to a new tack

Synonyms of come about

• happen
• be
• come down
• come
• occur

Examples of come about in a Sentence

how did all this come about?

Recent Examples on the Web

The alarming milestone at Lake Powell, reached Saturday, comes about a week after the river’s other major reservoir, Lake Mead, also hit a historic low. — ABC News, 16 Aug. 2026

The banana theming came about more than a decade ago as a symbol of cultural unity and diversity across global communities, McDaniels said. — Camila Pedrosa, Sacbee.com, 15 Aug. 2026

The latest flooding comes about a month after another round of flooding forced the bar to close for several days. — Jasmine Arenas, CBS News, 15 Aug. 2026

The post comes about two weeks after Ratajkowski shared a more detailed look at her Euro Summer in Greece. — Colson Thayer, PEOPLE, 14 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for come about

• bailout
• blackout
• blowout
• breakout
• burnout
• buyout
• checkout
• closeout
• cutout
• devout
• dropout
• dugout

Kids Definition

come about

verb

1

: happen sense 2

2

: to change direction

the wind has come about into the north