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

The others have waited years to come forward with their experiences. —Jackson Thompson, FOXNews.com, 17 Oct. 2025

After coming forward with his story in 2011, Dati has worked as a public speaker and advocate for organizations like National Association of Adult Survivors of Child Abuse and Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network (RAINN). —Lynsey Eidell, PEOPLE, 17 Oct. 2025

Remy’s story has been shared on Instagram where people posted their well-wishes and hopes for Remy, but so far no one has come forward to adopt him. —Alice Gibbs, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Oct. 2025

Delbarton publicly acknowledged in 2018 that at least 30 men had come forward with allegations that, over three decades, 13 past or current priests and monks at the school had victimized them — in addition to a lay faculty member who is now retired. —Corky Siemaszko, NBC news, 16 Oct. 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