come by

came by; come by; coming by; comes by

Definition of come by

transitive verb

: to get possession of : acquire a good job is hard to come by

intransitive verb

: to make a visit came by after dinner

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Examples of come by in a Sentence

come by after work and I'll give you some clothes for the rummage sale a literary award like that isn't easy to come by

Recent Examples on the Web Solskjaer has preferred the partnership of Scott McTominay and Paul Pogba, so minutes have been hard to come by for the 31-year-old. — SI.com, "Nemanja Matic Dismisses Talk of Clash With Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as Fred Frustration Continues," 4 Sep. 2019 Entering his third season as head coach, Jones has installed an offense that fits his team and instilled a belief system that’s not easy to come by for a program that had won just 12 games (on the field) in the past 10 seasons. — Matt Schubert, The Denver Post, "Colorado Prep Football Rewind: Adams City’s streak is over, watch out for Regis, Kit Carson makes a statement and more," 31 Aug. 2019 Everybody will take the field and from then on reps will be hard to come by for some of the reserve players. — Cameron Teague Robinson, The Courier-Journal, "With 70% of its playbook installed, Louisville football begins camp focused on reps," 5 Aug. 2019 Even medicines manufactured in Iran are tougher to come by for ordinary Iranians, their cost out of reach for many in a country where the average monthly salary is equivalent to about $450. — Washington Post, "Iranians say US sanctions blocking access to needed medicine," 30 July 2019 Offense was hard to come by for San Francisco, but the Giants did score a run with two outs in the top of the third when Solano crushed an offering from Padres starter Joey Lucchesi high off the center field wall. — Kerry Crowley, The Mercury News, "Pablo Sandoval delivers again, lifts Giants to another extra-inning win with home run," 26 July 2019 But that commodity is becoming increasingly hard to come by for Singapore. — Mary Hui, Quartz, "Singapore needs sand, but its neighbors refuse to sell," 4 July 2019 Extra lives are common in videogames but much harder to come by for the companies that make them. — Dan Gallagher, WSJ, "Zynga Finds the Reset Button," 3 May 2019 Wins have been hard to come by for the Cleveland Cavaliers this season, so coach Larry Drew has been focused on the incremental signs of progress. — Dan Greenspan, The Seattle Times, "Cavs stun Lakers 101-95 to end 12-game losing streak," 13 Jan. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'come by.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

25 Oct 2019

Time Traveler for come by

The first known use of come by was in the 14th century

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