come and go

phrase

1
—used to talk about time that has passed
More than a hundred years have come and gone since the day of that famous battle.
2
—used to talk about people who appear and then leave as time passes
She's seen a lot of employees come and go during her time in the company.
Politicians come and go. They all seem pretty much the same to me.

Examples of come and go in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Other franchises have run into the same issues — looking at you, Star Wars — but Halo has been stuck in this purgatory for 15+ years, as Xbox leaders and strategy shifts come and go. — Fran Ruiz, Space.com, 23 Oct. 2026 In 1997, alternative rock was in a strange place, having already seen the grunge era come and go, and with no clear core to the genre to keep it commercially and culturally competitive with pop and hip-hop as the turn of the century approached. — Andrew Unterberger, Billboard, 22 Oct. 2026 Lifton, who has been studying the rare earths industry since 1962, has seen countless trends, companies, and technologies come and go, and he isn’t given to sweeping statements. — Glenn Zorpette, IEEE Spectrum, 15 Oct. 2026 Senator George Smathers had seen his friend’s women come and go, but Monroe was different. — Laurence Leamer, Vanity Fair, 14 Oct. 2026 See All Example Sentences for come and go

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Cite this Entry

“Come and go.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/come%20and%20go. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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