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

The civil suit was immediately settled out of court — but the attention triggered a flood of victims to come forward, and put wind behind the sails of a federal criminal investigation. —New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 25 May 2025

Despite social-media posts and community outreach, no owner came forward to claim him, breaking the hearts of staff at the rescue. —Melissa Fleur Afshar, MSNBC Newsweek, 23 May 2025

Police spokesperson Siena Riley said no witnesses to Saturday’s crash have come forward, and officers were investigating Saturday. —Max Levy, Denver Post, 17 May 2025

Heard went on to write an op-ed for The Washington Post in 2018 about her experience coming forward publicly with allegations of assault. —Alex Gurley, People.com, 13 May 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