come about

British  

verb

1. to take place; happen

2. nautical to change tacks

---

come about Idioms  

1. 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).

2. 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

See Examples For:

come about

How did opening for Harry Styles come about?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

What 250 years means: I think that with every year that passes, it’s important to do things differently, so that you can see how change can come about.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026

But - from young people on the streets of Dublin to those in Ireland's Jewish community - what does the Eurovision boycott mean and why did it come about?

From BBC ● May 15, 2026

Ironically, arbitration has come about ostensibly through willing agreement.

From Slate ● Apr. 27, 2026

But she wanted to remind them of the long hard way they had come, about the long hard way they had yet to go.

From "Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad" by Ann Petry