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come
[ kuhm ]
verb (used without object)
- to approach or move toward a particular person or place: Don't come any closer!
Come here.
Don't come any closer!
- to arrive by movement or in the course of progress:
The train from Boston is coming.
- to approach or arrive in time, in succession, etc.: I'll come to your question next.
Christmas comes once a year.
I'll come to your question next.
- to move into view; appear:
A gorgeous rainbow came over the valley.
The dress comes to her knees.
Success comes to those who strive.
- to occur at a certain point, position, etc.: Her aria comes in the third act.
Tuesday comes after Monday.
Her aria comes in the third act.
- to be available, produced, offered, etc.:
Toothpaste comes in a tube.
- to occur to the mind:
The idea just came to me.
- to befall:
They promised no harm would come to us.
Peaches come from trees. Good results do not come from careless work.
- to arrive or appear as a result:
This comes of carelessness.
- to enter or be brought into a specified state or condition:
to come into popular use.
- to do or manage; fare:
She's coming along well with her work.
- to enter into being or existence; be born:
The baby came at dawn.
- to have been a resident or to be a native of (usually followed by from ):
She comes from Florida.
- to become:
His shoes came untied.
- to seem to become:
His fears made the menacing statues come alive. The work will come easy with a little practice.
- (used in the imperative to call attention or to express impatience, anger, remonstrance, etc.):
Come, that will do!
- to germinate, as grain.
- Slang: Vulgar. to have an orgasm.
verb (used with object)
- Chiefly British. to do; perform; accomplish:
Please don't ask me to carry in one more box—I just can't come it.
- Informal. to play the part of:
to come the grande dame.
noun
- Slang: Vulgar. semen.
verb phrase
- to fit into a category or classification:
This play comes under the heading of social criticism.
- to be the province or responsibility of:
This matter comes under the State Department.
- Also come upon. to find or encounter, especially by chance: We suddenly came upon a deer while walking in the woods.
I came across this picture when I was cleaning out the attic.
We suddenly came upon a deer while walking in the woods.
- Informal. to make good one's promise, as to pay a debt, do what is expected, etc.:
to come across with the rent.
- to be understandable or convincing:
The moral of this story doesn't come across.
- Informal. to make a particular impression; comport oneself:
She comes across as a very cold person.
- (used as a request to repeat a statement).
How did he ever come by so much money?
- to offer one's services; present oneself; volunteer:
When the president called for volunteers, several members of our group came forward.
- to rise:
The sun came up and the fog burned off.
- to be referred to; arise:
The subject kept coming up in conversation.
- to be presented for action or discussion:
The farm bill comes up for consideration next Monday.
- to mature or learn, or to rise in rank:
They are mostly looking at those major league players who come up through the minors.
- Slang. hail from or grow up in:
When you come up in the ’hood, you learn to value loyalty.
- to be published; appear.
- to become known; be revealed.
- to make a debut in society, the theater, etc.
- to end; terminate:
The fight came out badly, as both combatants were injured.
- to acknowledge and publicly reveal a sexual orientation or gender identity that does not conform to socially defined norms:
After an unsuccessful five-year marriage to a man, I finally came out as a lesbian.
- to publicly acknowledge a surprising interest or hobby, or to identify in an unexpected way as part of a fandom, a supporter of a particular political party, etc.: She came out as a fan of reality TV .
I haven’t come out as a Trekkie to my coworkers yet.
She came out as a fan of reality TV
- to receive; get; be subjected to:
This plan will no doubt come in for a great deal of criticism.
- to happen to; affect:
What's come over him?
- to change sides or positions; change one's mind:
He was initially against the plan, but he's come over now.
- to visit informally:
Our neighbors came over last night and we had a good chat.
- to voice one's opposition to:
She came down on increased spending and promised to cut the budget.
- to reprimand; scold:
He came down on me for getting to work late.
- to cause to be estranged or antagonized:
Love of money came between the brothers.
- to produce; supply:
Can you come up with the right answer?
- to endorse or support publicly:
The newspaper came out for the reelection of the mayor.
- to recover consciousness.
- to amount to; total.
- Nautical. to take the way off a vessel, slowing or stopping its movement, as by bringing its head into the wind or anchoring.
- Also come upon. to meet or find unexpectedly.
- to appear on stage; make one's entrance.
- to begin; appear:
The last showing will be coming on in a few minutes.
- Informal. (used chiefly in the imperative) to hurry; begin:
Come on, before it rains!
- Informal. (as an entreaty or attempt at persuasion) please:
Come on, go with us to the movies.
- Slang. to try to make an impression or have an effect; present oneself:
She comes on a bit too strong for my taste.
- Slang. to make sexual advances:
a Lothario who was always coming on with the women at the office.
- to approach; near:
A panhandler came up to us in the street.
- Nautical. (of a sailing vessel) to head toward the wind; come to.
- to come to pass; happen.
- Nautical. to tack.
- to accompany someone, attend as part of a group:
He didn't come along on the last trip.
- to proceed, develop, or advance sufficiently or successfully:
The new project was coming along quite smoothly.
- to appear; emerge as a factor or possibility:
Even if another job comes along this summer, I won't take it.
- to endure or finish successfully.
- Informal. to experience religious conversion.
- to acquire; get.
- to inherit:
He came into a large fortune at the age of 21.
- to speak, especially to confess or reveal something.
- to make available to the public; bring out:
The publisher is coming out with a revised edition of the textbook.
- to become afflicted with (an illness):
Many people came down with the flu this year.
- Slang. to make sexual advances to.
- to enter.
- to arrive.
- to come into use or fashion.
- to begin to produce or yield:
The oil well finally came in.
- to be among the winners:
His horse came in and paid 5 to 1.
- to finish in a race or any competition, as specified:
Our bobsled team came in fifth.
- to return, especially to one's memory:
It all comes back to me now.
- to return to a former position or state.
- to talk back; retort:
to come back with a witty remark.
- to lose wealth, rank, etc.; be reduced in circumstances or status.
- to be handed down by tradition or inheritance.
- to be relayed or passed along from a source of higher rank or authority:
The general's orders will come down tomorrow.
- Slang. to take place; happen.
- Slang. to lose one's euphoria, enthusiasm, or especially the effects of a drug high.
come
/ kʌm /
verb
- to move towards a specified person or place
come to my desk
- to arrive by movement or by making progress
- to become perceptible
light came into the sky
- to occur in the course of time
Christmas comes but once a year
- to exist or occur at a specific point in a series
your turn comes next
- to happen as a result
no good will come of this
- to originate or be derived
good may come of evil
- to occur to the mind
the truth suddenly came to me
- to extend or reach
she comes up to my shoulder
- to be produced or offered
that dress comes in red only
- to arrive at or be brought into a particular state or condition
you will soon come to grief
the new timetable comes into effect on Monday
- foll by from to be or have been a resident or native (of)
I come from London
- to become
your wishes will come true
- tr; takes an infinitive to be given awareness
I came to realize its enormous value
- (of grain) to germinate
- slang.to have an orgasm
- informal.tr to play the part of
don't come the fine gentleman with me
- informal.tr to cause or produce
don't come that nonsense again
- subjunctive use when (a specified time or event has arrived or begun)
she'll be sixteen come Sunday
come the revolution, you'll be the first to go
- as…as they comethe most characteristic example of a class or type
- come again? informal.what did you say?
- come andimperative or dependent imperative to move towards a particular person or thing or accompany a person with some specified purpose
come and see what I've found
- come clean informal.to make a revelation or confession
- come good informal.to recover and perform well after a bad start or setback
- come it slang.
- to pretend; act a part
- to exaggerate
- often foll by over to try to impose (upon)
- to divulge a secret; inform the police
- come to lightto be revealed
- come to light with informal.to find or produce
- come to pass archaic.to take place
- how come? informal.what is the reason that?
interjection
- an exclamation expressing annoyance, irritation, etc
come now!
come come!
noun
- semen
Word History and Origins
Word History and Origins
Origin of come1
Idioms and Phrases
- come and go, to occur briefly or suddenly but never for long; appear and disappear.
- come down on the side of, to support or favor:
I want to come down on the side of truth and justice.
- come home, Nautical.
- (of an anchor) to begin to drag.
- (of an object) to move when hauled upon.
- come off it, Informal. to stop being wrong, foolish, or pretentious; be truthful or honest:
Come off it—we know you're as poor as the rest of us.
- come off, Informal.
- come to pass, to happen; occur:
And it came to pass that there was a drought in the kingdom.
- come what may, no matter what may happen; regardless of any opposition, argument, or consequences:
Come what may, he will not change his mind.
- where one is coming from, Slang. where the source of one's beliefs, attitudes, or feelings lies:
It's hard to understand where your friend is coming from when he says such crazy things.
More idioms and phrases containing come
- bigger they come
- cross a bridge when one comes to it
- dream come true
- easy come, easy go
- first come, first served
- full circle, come
- get one's comeuppance
- (come) to the point
- how come
- if the mountain won't come to Muhammad
- if worst comes to worst
- Johnny-come-lately
- know enough to come in out of the rain
- make a comeback
- of age, come
- on the scene, come
- out of nowhere, come
- push comes to shove
- ship comes in, when one's
- till the cows come home
- what goes around comes around
- when it comes down to
- coming
Example Sentences
Officials predict that the percentage of students who wish to remain virtual come fall will be small.
Wall Street is not only unperturbed by the prospect of Washington awash in blue come January, it sees a possible upside.
Now, most trainers would now recommend redirecting the scratching dog to a better behavior, a come or a sit, rewarded with a treat.
The impact is big and there’s a lot to unpack here, so let’s take a look at ad spend and explore some of the options available to advertisers in the coming months.
However, they also detected red light produced by much cooler gas, which would most likely come from stars.
Meanwhile, in Florida, Bush was flooded with questions about whether gay marriage could possibly come to the Sunshine State.
These generally come from the outside, from cultural pressures and messages.
But there is an underlying feeling that the worst is yet to come.
My agent at the time sent that tape to SNL and then they asked me to come in for an audition.
And suddenly, we were able to come up with all these scenes for it.
In their shelter, Brion and Ulv crouched low and wondered why the attack didn't come.
Babylas raised his pale face; he knew what was coming; it had come so many times before.
He reached forward and took her hands, and if Mrs. Vivian had come in she would have seen him kneeling at her daughter's feet.
Vicars' wives had come and gone, but all had submitted, some after a brief struggle, to old Mrs. Wurzel's sway.
This wasn't at all what he meant to say, and it sounded very ridiculous; but somehow the words wouldn't come straight.
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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.
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