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 nonprofit would essentially act as the land developer, coming up with a master plan, securing permits, managing financing, entering into contracts with partners and overseeing construction. —Jennifer Van Grove, San Diego Union-Tribune, 14 Apr. 2026

If you were left longing for cash to burn in 2025, your time to try again is coming up soon. —Sophia Beams, Better Homes & Gardens, 14 Apr. 2026

Lousada came up in the British dance-music scene of the 1990s and began his career by launching a distributor for DJs and label heads like DJ Shadow, James Lavelle and Gilles Peterson. —Jem Aswad, Variety, 14 Apr. 2026

Theoretically, the Yankees could get Rice and Goldschmidt in the lineup simultaneously, as the former came up through the minors as a catcher. —Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 14 Apr. 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