come across

verb

came across; come across; coming across; comes across

intransitive verb

1

: to give over or furnish something demanded

especially : to pay over money

2

: to produce an impression

comes across as a good speaker

3

: come through sense 2

Synonyms

• seem
• feel
• look
• sound

Examples of come across in a Sentence

the law professor comes across as a bit of an ogre at first, but he's actually quite personable

Recent Examples on the Web

Doing something like this at all, much less this early in the show’s lifespan, could come across as an act of colossal hubris. —Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 2 Sep. 2025

Its multi-layered, multi-directional front end contours are aggressive and come across more as an innovative Stravinsky composition than a soothing Chopin melody. —Peter Lyon, Forbes.com, 31 Aug. 2025

Anyone who has scrolled on TikTok for even just a day has probably come across one of Hearon’s videos; clips from his podcasts and stand-up shows get millions of views, not even counting the number of reposts from random clip-farming channels. —Alejandra Gularte, Vulture, 29 Aug. 2025

That is the one that ends up coming across cool. —Dana Taylor, USA Today, 28 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1878, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for come across

• albatross
• applesauce
• barabbas
• helios
• kshatriyas
• backcross
• crisscross
• lacrosse
• recross
• tomas
• blas
• bos