come up

verb

came up; come up; coming up; comes up

intransitive verb

1

: rise sense 6

2

: to come near : make an approach

came up and introduced himself

3

: to rise in rank or status

an officer who came up from the ranks

4

a

: to come to attention or consideration

the question never came up

b

: to occur in the course of time

any problem that may come up

5

: to turn out to be

the coin came up tails

6

chiefly dialectal : grow up

see also:

come up empty come up with

Synonyms of come up

• come
• draw on
• close
• approach
• close in

Examples of come up in a Sentence

the girl came up to the counter and asked if she could have her order prepared to go

let me know if anything else comes up during the project

Recent Examples on the Web

The Dodgers had pushed across single runs in the second inning (on Alex Call’s RBI single) and again in the fourth when center fielder Justin Crawford dove for Call’s sinking liner and came up empty. —Bill Plunkett, Oc Register, 31 May 2026

Right now the Red Sox only have a handful of guys who look likely to make an impact in the majors, and the more big bats the club has coming up, the better. —Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald, 31 May 2026

The Thunder’s attempt at becoming the first NBA team to successfully defend their title for the first time since the Golden State Warriors did so in 2017 and 2018 came up short. —Cnn.com Wire Service, Mercury News, 31 May 2026

This is also an excellent day for creative work or coming up with new approaches to medicine or something that is health-related. —Georgia Nicols, Denver Post, 30 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for come up

• buttercup
• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup

Kids Definition

come up

verb

1

: rise entry 1 sense 4

the sun comes up in an hour

2

: to come near or approach

came up and introduced himself

3

: to come to attention : introduce sense 4

the question came up again