come upon

British  

verb

1. (intr, preposition) to meet or encounter unexpectedly

   I came upon an old friend in the street today

---

come upon Idioms  

1. see come across, def. 1; come on, def. 3.

---

Example Sentences

We soon came upon one of those Little Free Libraries book lovers like me build out in front of their homes.

From Los Angeles Times

“It is from contrary opinions,” Mr. Brown writes, “that we often come upon insight, balance, and unexpected perspective.”

From The Wall Street Journal

So many people talk about how you wait for inspiration to come upon you: You wake up on a sunny day, you open the window and you’re like, “Oh, my God, I got it!”

From Los Angeles Times

At the same time we were exploring what we were going to do with the OGs, we came upon an exciting new group at SUR.

From Los Angeles Times

He added that he has "an awful lot of sympathy for the staff members who would have had to come upon that scene and how distressing that must have been".

From BBC

Related Words

• bump into
• come across