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

A couple other people came forward and said Duke had been leaving surprises in their yards too. —Darlin Tillery, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 July 2025

The veteran broadcaster alleged the NBC executives had been on the hunt for clips that featured Trump speaking in a disparaging manner about women after a former pageant queen came forward and said the then-presidential candidate had been inappropriate with her. —Mekishana Pierre, EW.com, 10 July 2025

These brave women appear to have no motive other than to do the right thing by coming forward. —Megan Schrader, Denver Post, 9 July 2025

After Doe came forward and police investigated his claims, three other victims who were abused before 2009 were discovered, according to the lawsuit. —Richard Winton follow, Los Angeles Times, 8 July 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