come by

verb

came by; come by; coming by; comes 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

Synonyms

• visit
• run in
• drop by
• drop in

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

The new Reclaim activity is lame and the new loot is hard to come by. —Paul Tassi, Forbes.com, 11 Sep. 2025

The research space focused on Lake Tahoe includes various organizations, but sometimes those efforts are fragmented, as funding is hard to come by, according to Grossman. —Amelia Wu, Sacbee.com, 11 Sep. 2025

Georgia has won all four head-to-head matchups since Josh Heupel took over as head coach of the Vols in 2021, with each of those victories coming by at least 14 points. —Tyler Everett, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Sep. 2025

Yet for all of these strides, representations of HIV in film are still hard to come by. —Scott Malia, The Conversation, 10 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Rhymes for come by

• abscissae
• alibi
• alkali
• alumni
• amoebae
• amplify
• annuli
• beautify
• brachii
• butterfly
• calculi
• certify

Kids Definition

come by

verb

1

: to make a visit

come by after dinner

2

: acquire

good help is hard to come by