come forward

phrasal verb

came forward; come forward; coming forward; comes forward
: to make the effort required to provide information, make a claim, volunteer, etc.
No one has yet come forward to claim the reward.
Essex Police is now appealing for anyone with information or dash cam footage of the crash to come forward and help with their inquiries.Alex Gidden
The young woman … had come forward after six months to accuse him of assault.Jules De Cinque
also : to become publicly known
While the case was dropped the prosecutor says if substantial evidence came forward this case could go to a trial in the future … Don Granese

Examples of come forward in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Having come forward in 2022 with claims that she had been disfigured during a cosmetic procedure, and having also survived both cancer and spousal abuse, Evangelista has lived a lot of life. Daniel D'addario, Variety, 20 Sep. 2023 Since the #MeToo movement erupted in 2017 and survivors have come forward to the media, on social media or through the legal system, defamation and libel lawsuits have been a common strategy among those accused of misconduct. Ethan Millman, Rolling Stone, 20 Sep. 2023 The issue was spotlighted in a BBC documentary earlier this year, and received fresh attention in April after a former star trainee came forward with allegations that he and multiple other young men were abused by Kitagawa. Jessie Yeung, CNN, 7 Sep. 2023 The release of an hourlong BBC documentary in March featuring interviews with three of Mr. Kitagawa’s accusers opened a floodgate of recrimination, prompting more men to come forward and putting pressure on the company to respond. Ben Dooley, New York Times, 7 Sep. 2023 An Alabama sample wedding dress shop and a Louisiana bridal boutique have come forward as the donators of a wedding dress that was recently the subject of a viral TikTok. Tandra Smith | Tsmith@al.com, al, 16 Sep. 2023 The whistle-blowers came forward with concerns that Mr. Paxton appeared to be going out of his way to help Mr. Paul. David Montgomery, New York Times, 16 Sep. 2023 May more absolute crackpots come forward with their petrified duendes and brujas voladoras. Alex Zaragoza, Los Angeles Times, 15 Sep. 2023 Several aides in Paxton's office came forward in 2020, alleging that Paxton influenced employees to get involved in legal disputes that would benefit Paul and his business. Caroline Linton, CBS News, 15 Sep. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'come forward.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Cite this Entry

“Come forward.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/come%20forward. Accessed 1 Oct. 2023.

Legal Definition

come forward

intransitive verb
come for·​ward
: to make a presentation of something to the court
usually used with with
must come forward with materials to show that there is a genuine issue of factJ. H. Friedenthal et al.
coming forward with the evidence

More from Merriam-Webster on come forward

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