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.
Ironically, arbitration has come about ostensibly through willing agreement.
From Slate • Apr. 27, 2026
The artist said the exhibition had come about after a chance meeting with an old friend, Lucy Antill, who together with her sister founded Monarch's Mutts Dog Rescue in Halesowen.
From BBC • Mar. 16, 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
“A lot of fights come about because you just assume priorities are the same,” Joy says.
From MarketWatch • Jan. 14, 2026
Nobody, not even James, could understand how in the world a thing like this could have come about.
From "James and the Giant Peach" by Roald Dahl
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.
