come up

verb

came up; come up; coming up; comes up
Synonyms of come upnext

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

Relevance
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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
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.
Boise continued to tilt the field toward the Knoxville net in the second half but came up with nothing to show for it. — Idaho Statesman, 3 July 2026 And a city that has seen its basketball team come up short for decades can now imagine what’s been impossible since the early 1980’s. — Tony Jones, New York Times, 2 July 2026 England were on the cusp of one of the biggest World Cup upsets in recent memory — until the heart and soul of the program came up more than clutch. — Ryan Morik, FOXNews.com, 1 July 2026 Perhaps that last claim feels overblown, but movies indisputably falsify reality, presenting a world that seems hypervivid for a few hours but vanishes when the lights come up. — Michael O’Donnell, The Atlantic, 2 July 2026 See All Example Sentences for come up

Word History

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of come up was before the 12th century

Rhymes for come up

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Browse Nearby Words

come unstuck
come up
come up against
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Come up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/come%20up. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

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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
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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