come by

verb

came by; come by; coming by; comes by

transitive verb

: to get possession of : acquire

A good job is hard to come by.

intransitive verb

: to make a visit

came by after dinner

Synonyms of come by

• visit
• run in
• drop by
• drop in

Examples of come by in a Sentence

come by after work and I'll give you some clothes for the rummage sale

a literary award like that isn't easy to come by

Recent Examples on the Web

Expansion onto the mainstream scene likely comes by way of popular music, movies, and social media, which have made African-American language visible to young people of other backgrounds. — Valerie Fridland, Time, 22 July 2026

The latest announcement comes by way of a manual fix, deep joy, for the sync delay issues that have impacted users of both client and server platforms. — Davey Winder, Forbes.com, 21 July 2026

Viewers were then taken outside the theater at street level to see Benny come by to sniff the globe as the show’s theme song played in the background. — Desiree Anello, PEOPLE, 19 July 2026

The Tar Heels stumbled to a 2-5 start and lost their first five games to power conference opponents, with the first three coming by an average of 29 points. — Ralph D. Russo, New York Times, 17 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Rhymes for come by

• abscissae
• adonai
• alibi
• alkali
• alumni
• amoebae
• amplify
• annuli
• beautify
• brachii
• butterfly
• calculi

Kids Definition

come by

verb

1

: to make a visit

come by after dinner

2

: acquire

good help is hard to come by