come about
Britishverb
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to take place; happen
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nautical to change tacks
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Also, come to pass . Happen, take place, as in How did this quarrel come about? or When did this new development come to pass? Shakespeare used the first term, first recorded in 1315, in Hamlet (5:2): “How these things came about.” The variant, dating from the late 1400s, appears often in the Bible, as in, “And it came to pass ... that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus” (Luke 2:1).
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Also, go about . In sailing, to change tack (direction), as in It's important to duck under the boom when we come about . [Mid-1500s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
And that has come about because of the increased electrification.
From BBC • May 14, 2026
Ironically, arbitration has come about ostensibly through willing agreement.
From Slate • Apr. 27, 2026
The next leg lower could come about when the markets get a sense of just how many tankers are passing through the strait, he told MarketWatch.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 17, 2026
Chinese exports to 20 Japanese companies will require a certification process, Beijing announced, with details to come about what that process is.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 24, 2026
And with him will come about seventy thousand men.
From "The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War" by Michael Shaara
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
