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

Women are coming forward after being poisoned by abusers. —Morgan Chalfant, semafor.com, 19 Dec. 2025

The Michigan State Police confirmed the door is still open for any remaining victims to come forward by reaching out to Trooper Ryan with the Michigan State Police Brighton Post at 517-899-6174. —Jack Springgate, CBS News, 18 Dec. 2025

Two senators are now coming forward and pressing Attorney General Pam Bondi to recuse herself from the review of the deal. —Brian Stelter, CNN Money, 17 Dec. 2025

Jackson was among those who came forward to church leaders. —Mike Hixenbaugh, NBC news, 17 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