crop up

verb

cropped up; cropping up; crops up

intransitive verb

: to come or appear when not expected

New problems crop up every day.

His name crops up frequently as a potential candidate.

Examples of crop up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Despite a map that had initially looked favorable to Republicans, steep headwinds emerged for the party as competitive races cropped up in reliably red states like Iowa in recent months, throwing the GOP's hold on the upper chamber into question. — Kaia Hubbard, CBS News, 4 Nov. 2026

Stern pointed to the abundance of luxury towers that have cropped up in downtown Fort Lauderdale over the past several years, with more in the pipeline. — Susannah Bryan, Sun Sentinel, 3 Nov. 2026

The wistful 18th-century folk ballad—all about taking the high road or the low road back to the country’s largest and arguably most romantic expanse of water—has cropped up everywhere from The Simpsons to, well, every Scottish wedding on earth. — Liam Hess, Vogue, 3 Nov. 2026

Still, do some digging, and a few hints crop up and offer a glimpse as to what this defense will look like. — Alex Zietlow, Charlotte Observer, 3 Nov. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Note: See note at crop entry 2

First Known Use

1844, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for crop up

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