come by

verb

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 And personal protective equipment, like masks and gloves, was hard to come by for Black service workers. — Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, "Black Boston COVID-19 Coalition’s efforts help bring vaccine to community," 25 Feb. 2021 All of those moving parts make a table harder to come by during a pandemic. — Sarah Blaskovich, Dallas News, "You won’t believe it, but it’s almost impossible to get a reservation at some Dallas restaurants," 27 Jan. 2021 In an apartment building in France in the future, food is hard to come by, leading to the butcher on the first floor going to cannibalistic extremes to feed his tenants. — Brian Tallerico, Vulture, "The 100 Best Movies on Amazon Prime Right Now," 16 Jan. 2021 Puffed up numbers for a Huskies shooting guard aren’t the most difficult thing to come by in games like this, portions of which belonged on Comedy Central or the Cartoon Network instead of SNY. — Mike Anthony, courant.com, "Mike Anthony: Christyn Williams’ maturity shows in numbers and beyond as UConn rolls past Xavier," 20 Dec. 2020 Even if detailed statistics were hard to come by, organizations and countries, from the United Nations to the European Union, France and Britain, all said that the pandemic had so far been an additional source for men to mistreat women. — Raf Casert And Angela Charlton, USA TODAY, "'Invisible pandemic': Domestic violence worsens amid COVID-19 worldwide, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women," 25 Nov. 2020 Mamie Eisenhower used to come by and play bridge, though as a guest. — John Kelly, Washington Post, "Things are shipshape at the Army and Navy Club on Farragut Square in D.C.," 18 Nov. 2020 Confidence was easy to come by early for the Irish. — Tyler James, The Indianapolis Star, "Ian Book comes up clutch in Notre Dame upset of No. 1 Clemson," 8 Nov. 2020 Data on diversity in the Justice Department is harder to come by because the department does not release statistics on the subject. — Ankush Khardori, The New Republic, "The Justice Department Is Way Too White," 8 Feb. 2021

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

3 Mar 2021

Cite this Entry

“Come by.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/come%20by. Accessed 7 Mar. 2021.

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