as in to find
to come upon unexpectedly or by chance
while we were out on a drive in the country, we tumbled upon a farm stand selling the best peaches I've ever tasted
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tumble (upon)
Verb
-
Clarendon Hills found itself in the elimination bracket by virtue of a 16-1 loss Wednesday to the Mountain Region and Nevada State champion from Las Vegas, which improved to 2-0 Saturday with a 5-3 win over the Northwest Region champs from Washington.—
Chuck Fieldman,
Chicago Tribune,
17 Aug. 2025 -
Du Plessis – who was making the third defense of his belt – had no answer to Chimaev’s grappling and found himself on the mat within the opening minute of the fight.—
Jamie Barton,
CNN Money,
17 Aug. 2025
Verb
-
Coming back from space, the ship encounters much higher temperatures than the booster sees at lower velocities.—
Stephen Clark,
ArsTechnica,
15 Aug. 2025
-
Investigators encounter them at multiple times in human history.—
Rob Wieland,
Forbes.com,
15 Aug. 2025
Verb
-
Game of Thrones meets Candyland, Lord of the Rings meets The Breakfast Club, Jane Austen meets A Court of Thorns and Roses.—
Scott Greenstone,
NPR,
7 Aug. 2025
-
In addition to addressing the crowd, Eminem also met some fans and hung out with a few, again thanking them for their support over the past quarter century.—
Gil Kaufman,
Billboard,
7 Aug. 2025
Verb
-
Fans renting the AirBnb may come across stars walking the grounds.—
Bryan West,
The Tennessean,
13 Aug. 2025
-
Some of them are coming across the region to descend on places like the Navy Yard.—
Peter D'Abrosca,
FOXNews.com,
13 Aug. 2025
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Cite this Entry
“Tumble (upon).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tumble%20%28upon%29. Accessed 20 Aug. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share