come by

verb

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

Of Seattle’s 57 wins, 26 have come by a single run, giving them a .703 winning percentage in one-run contests. — Tom Verducci, SI.com, "Nine Innings: How Bryce Harper Is Trying to Revive His Season, What We Learned in the First Half and More," 9 July 2018 Two playoff wins have come by the defensive throw-down both at third base for the final out in Game 2 vs. The Colony and Game 2 vs. Hallsville. — Brian Gosset, star-telegram, "Can Plano, Forney and Grandview win state softball titles?," 30 May 2018 None of the qualifying teams advanced out of the first round of the main draw, with two of the losses coming by way of a shutout. — Andrew Turner, latimes.com, "Local softball teams produced redemptive playoff performances," 27 May 2018 Four of their losses have come by one goal to NCAA tournaments teams — Towson, Northwestern, Penn and Penn State. — Katherine Dunn, baltimoresun.com, "Previewing local teams in the first round of the NCAA Division I women's lacrosse tournament," 10 May 2018 For the third administration in a row, most of the movement on the issue has come by way of executive order or litigation. — Jessica Mendoza, The Christian Science Monitor, "Right to work? In Silicon Valley, visa fight as symbol of blocked American dream.," 27 Apr. 2018 The numbers City has posted this season haven't come by accident. — Chris Scott, CNN, "Manchester City: How Pep Guardiola's team won the Premier League title," 16 Apr. 2018 Ten of the Rockets’ 13 wins this season have come by a margin of three or fewer runs. — Adam Zuvanich, San Antonio Express-News, "From farce to force: Judson enjoying turnaround season," 5 Apr. 2018 Spurs update The Spurs lost their past two games and four of their past five with the one win coming by just two points at home against the last-place Grizzlies. — Jonathan Feigen, Houston Chronicle, "Scouting report: Rockets vs. Spurs," 12 Mar. 2018

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

11 Oct 2018

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

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