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

But Stonestreet also knows that his coming forward will likely mean a lot to people in similar situations. —Charles Trepany, USA Today, 2 May 2025

Investigators say both women came forward and reached out to police, resulting in Khalili’s arrest in both instances. —Nate Gartrell, Mercury News, 1 May 2025

No winner had come forward as of the morning of April 30, the lottery said. —Tanasia Kenney, Miami Herald, 30 Apr. 2025

Another person came forward with information about the alleged murder, Burton said. —Kc Baker, People.com, 28 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