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

Considering the quality of opposition coming up, odds for postseason play do not appear to be in KU’s favor. — Gary Bedore, Kansas City Star, 8 Nov. 2026

The Amazon founder and then-CEO told a group of the company's top device executives to get to work on building one, and within a few years, the team came up with the $1,450 Astro. — Annie Palmer, CNBC, 8 Nov. 2026

Junior safety Isaac Patton scored on a 57-yard fumble return and also came up with an interception during that scoring blitz. — Patrick Z. McGavin, Chicago Tribune, 8 Nov. 2026

Penalties and qualms with officiating aside, the Panthers came up big in two of the game’s three most consequential drives down the stretch. — Alex Zietlow, Charlotte Observer, 8 Nov. 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