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

Nogales and Zinzun came forward publicly after reading in The Sacramento Bee that Ruiz and BI Incorporated were among the defendants named in an October lawsuit filed by Sacramento area undocumented woman alleging that Ruiz harassed her over the course of 18 months. —Marcos Breton, Sacbee.com, 23 Dec. 2025

Our clients have been bullied, harassed, and ostracized by CSU reps simply for being Jewish and supporting Israel, and many more are coming forward. —Mark Pinkert, Oc Register, 23 Dec. 2025

Police said that with the new charges, a total of six women have come forward with claims against Brand. —Minyvonne Burke, NBC news, 23 Dec. 2025

Chicago police are asking with information to come forward as investigations remain ongoing. —Darius Johnson, CBS News, 23 Dec. 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