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 news came about four months after the company introduced the Relax Row, a trio of economy seats that can turn into a couch on long-haul flights. — Colson Thayer, PEOPLE, 22 July 2026

Sources told Andrew that the abrupt nature of the termination came about due to media inquiries about Clark’s future, and that ESPN had initially planned to inform Clark of the decision today. — Chris Branch, New York Times, 21 July 2026

Fans went into a frenzy over why and how this hairstyle came about. — Leigh Blickley, Entertainment Weekly, 21 July 2026

Thus, using Abell 2255 as a cosmic laboratory to study the universe in radio waves could lead scientists to a better understanding of how magnetic fields come about and evolve. — Robert Lea, Space.com, 21 July 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