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

Perhaps a more accurate throughline across Ahn’s output is that his characters, knowingly or unknowingly, need their emotions to come forward. —Ritesh Mehta, IndieWire, 18 Apr. 2025

The aim, officials have said, is to ensure crime victims, witnesses and others are willing to come forward without fear of being detained and removed from the country. —Libor Jany, Los Angeles Times, 16 Apr. 2025

In the aftermath of Selonia's murder, her family came forward with more information -- some of it directed at one of Reginald's friends, Jimmy Ray Barnes. —Vladimir Duthiers, Paul Larosa, CBS News, 12 Apr. 2025

An investigation into the crash is ongoing, and the prosecutor's office is asking any witnesses to come forward. —Rachel Raposas, People.com, 12 Apr. 2025

Rhymes for come forward

• carryforward
• equatorward
• henceforward
• straightforward
• thenceforward
• shoreward

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 fact

—J. H. Friedenthal et al.

coming forward with the evidence