come across
Britishverb
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(preposition) to meet or find by accident
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(adverb) (of a person or his or her words) to communicate the intended meaning or impression
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(often foll by with) to provide what is expected
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Also, come upon ; run across . Meet or find by chance, as in I came across your old letters today , or He came upon her looking in the store window . or If I run across it, I'll call you . The first term dates from the 1800s. The first variant was used by Oliver Goldsmith in She Stoops to Conquer (1773): “You are to go sideways till you come upon Crack-Skull Common.” The second variant was used by Mark Twain in Tramp Abroad (1880): “If I don't run across you in Italy, you hunt me up in London.”
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Also, come across with . Pay or give what is expected or demanded, as in He finally came across with some food , or The landlord wants the rent, so come across . [ Colloquial ; late 1800s]
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Make a particular impression, as in He comes across as a very sincere person or Her meaning doesn't really come across; she'll have to revise the speech . [ Colloquial ; first half of 1900s] Also see get across ; put across .
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.
On the show the sisters certainly come across as if they were.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 30, 2026
Rosenior has come across as respectful and patient, and impressed in work with Chelsea's charitable foundation, according to multiple anecdotes from staff inside the club.
From BBC • Mar. 23, 2026
We had come across something that felt entirely new and brought the evidence home from faraway Dale Mabry Highway to preserve in that scrapbook.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 20, 2026
Evy is the show’s skeptic, able to use logic to refute every Creepypasta-lite story or folktale they come across on the show.
From Salon • Mar. 15, 2026
Roy Lee’s date for the formal was there, having come across the mountain to be properly impressed.
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
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.
