comeverb
uk/kʌm/us/kʌm/came, comecome verb (MOVE TO SPEAKER)
A1 [ I ] to move or travel towards the speaker or with the speaker:
Are you coming with me?
There's a car coming!
Can you come to my party?
Here comes Adam.
She's come 500 km (= has travelled 500 km) to be here with us tonight.
If you're ever in Dublin, come and visit us.
We came by car.
Your father will come for (= to collect) you at four o'clock.
Come forward a bit and stand on the line.
I've come straight from the airport.
The door opened and a nurse came into the room.
[ + to infinitive ] A man's coming to mend the boiler this afternoon.
As he came towards me, I could see he'd been crying.
He thought we'd been picking his apples and came after (= chased) us with a stick.
[ + -ing verb ] He came rushing over when I fell.
More examples
- Danny, come here and I'll read you a story.
- You can only come on the trip if your parents give their consent.
- It's very kind of you to come all the way to meet me.
- Don't come too near me - you might catch my cold.
- Margot came to stay for a week as company for my mother while I was away.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
General words for movement
- betake
- budge
- budge up
- circulate
- gangway!
- go around
- head
- locomotion
- manoeuvre
- mill around
- mobility
- mope
- mope around (somewhere)
- move
- pass
- round
- slip
- steer
- sway
- travel
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come verb (MOVE TO LISTENER)
A1 [ I ] to move or travel in the direction of the person being spoken to:
"Sal, are you ready?" "Coming."
I'll come and pick you up in the car if you like.
I've come for (= come to get) your census form.
[ + to infinitive ] I've come to read the gas meter.
More examples
- I'm afraid that we can't come this evening after all.
- We'd be delighted to come to dinner on Friday.
- I might come and visit you in America next year, if I can save enough money.
- He came and sat down next to me.
- I came here specially to see you.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
General words for movement
- betake
- budge
- budge up
- circulate
- gangway!
- go around
- head
- locomotion
- manoeuvre
- mill around
- mobility
- mope
- mope around (somewhere)
- move
- pass
- round
- slip
- steer
- sway
- travel
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come verb (ARRIVE)
A1 [ I ] to get to a particular place:
Has she come yet?
When does the post come?
Hasn't his train come in yet?
More examples
- The doctor at the hospital says that she'll be able to come home within two weeks.
- After you've gained some experience teaching abroad you can come home and get a job.
- The school is required to notify parents if their children fail to come to school.
- The men came to remove the rubbish from the backyard.
- He thumped on the door but nobody came.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Arriving, entering and invading
- annex
- barge
- barge in
- be on the scene idiom
- been
- breaking and entering idiom
- bugger
- go down
- hit
- hove
- intrusion
- invade
- keep (sb/sth) out
- land
- let
- let sb/sth in
- loom
- pile
- pitch invasion
- rock
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come verb (LEAVE)
[ I + adv/prep ] to leave a place:
I had to come away from the party early.
The police watched him come out of the house.
More examples
- When he came out of the water, he was trembling with cold.
- The gunmen were lying in wait when Mr Predit came out of the hotel.
- We exchanged a few words as we were coming away from the meeting.
- Her face was a sickly colour when she came out of the dentist's.
- He came off the tennis court with a twisted ankle.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Departing
- abandon
- absquatulate
- backward
- be ready to roll idiom
- bog
- desertion
- drive
- go down
- hit
- piss
- push along
- push off
- ready
- run
- run away
- sally
- track
- walk off (somewhere)
- walk out
- without (so much as) a backward glance idiom
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come verb (DIFFERENT STATE)
C2 [ L ] to change or develop so as to be in a different position or condition:
Those pictures will have to come down (= be removed from the wall).
He pulled the knob and it just came off (in his hand).
How many times have you come off that horse?
Two of his teeth came out after he got hit in the face.
Can you get this cork to come out of the bottle?
When does the heating come on (= start working)?
[ + adj ] A wire has come loose at the back.
The door came open for no apparent reason.
More examples
- She was clever to sell her apartment just before house prices came down.
- I heard a hiss and a pop as the cork came out of the bottle.
- I got some stick-on soles for my shoes, but they keep coming off.
- The roses are just coming into bloom.
- My shoelaces came undone.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Changing
- a new broom sweeps clean idiom
- about-turn
- alter
- alternate
- alternation
- bastardize
- convert
- fluid
- move on
- move the goalposts idiom
- move with the times idiom
- new
- new broom
- onto
- swing
- transfigure
- transform
- transitional
- transmogrify
- transmute
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come verb (HAPPEN)
B2 [ I ] to happen:
Spring has come early.
The announcement came at a bad time.
Her resignation came as quite a shock.
informal Come Monday morning (= when it is Monday morning) you'll regret staying up all night.
I'm afraid those days are gone and they'll never come again.
More examples
- His death came at a terrible time for Roger.
- The illness came on top of losing his job.
- The opportunity to join the expedition came at just the right time for me.
- The announcement that they were to divorce came as a real shock.
- It didn't come as any great surprise that she was resigning.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Occurring and happening
- afoot
- assail
- asynchronous
- attendant
- be at work idiom
- become
- come round
- come up
- event
- go ahead
- go down
- go hand in hand with sth idiom
- go together
- go with sth
- hand
- happen
- intervene
- materialize
- turn up
- underway
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come verb (BE ORDERED)
come after, first, last, etc.
More examples
- Whose name comes first in the alphabet?
- He came second in the 100 metres.
- The Romans came before the Anglo-Saxons.
- Who came first: Brahms or Beethoven?
- She came first out of the whole class in maths.
B1 to have or achieve a particular position in a race, competition, list, etc.:
She came second (US came in second) in the 100 metres.
Z comes after Y in the alphabet.
Which king came after Edward?
April comes before May.
I know the first verse of the song, but I don't know what comes next.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Winning, losing & scoring in sport
- against the run of play idiom
- close-run
- convincing
- do the double over sb idiom
- drubbing
- game changer
- game-changing
- hold
- lead 1
- pip
- pummel
- retire
- run away with sth
- square
- strike gold idiom
- varsity
- walk it idiom
- walkaway
- walkover
- win
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come verb (EXIST)
A2 [ I + adv/prep, not continuous ] to exist or be available:
Do these trousers come in any other colour?
Runners come in all shapes and sizes - fat and thin, short and tall.
This cuddly baby doll comes with her own blanket and bottle.
They're the best sunglasses you can buy, but they don't come cheap (= they are expensive).
More examples
- Does this T-shirt come in black?
- The camera comes with its own carrying case.
- Mobile phones come in all sorts of shapes and sizes these days.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Existing and being
- account for sth
- alive
- am
- are
- be
- existent
- extant
- go
- go back
- have legs idiom
- hood
- languish
- lie
- lie in sth
- live
- living
- lurk
- run
- stalk
- was
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Available and accessible
come to do sth
C2 to start to do something:
I've come to like her over the months.
It used to hold paper bags, but gradually came to be used for magazines.
How did that phrase come to mean (= develop so that it means) that?
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Starting and beginning
- be in the first flush of idiom
- become
- begin
- branch out
- break into sth
- export
- get down to business idiom
- ground
- incipient
- initiator
- instate
- introduce
- kick
- strike
- swing into action idiom
- touch sth off
- train
- trigger
- wade in
- weave
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come verb (SEX)
[ I ] to have an orgasm
Idiom(s)
as it comes
be as crazy, rich, etc. as they come
come again?
come and go
come down on sb like a ton of bricks
come from behind
come off it!
come out swinging/fighting
come the sth
come to pass
come to sb's attention/notice
come to that
come what may
the days/week(s)/year(s) to come
had it coming (to you)
have sth coming out of your ears
how come?
not know whether you are coming or going
Phrasal verb(s)
come about
come across
come across sth
come along
come apart
come around
come at sb
come away
come back
come back to sb
come before sth/sb
come between sb
come between sth
come by sth
come by (somewhere)
come down
come down on sb/sth
come down to sth
come down with sth
come forward
come from somewhere/sth
come from sth
come in
come in for sth
come into sth
come of sth
come off
come off sth
come on
come on/along
come out
come out in sth
come out of sth
come out with sth
come over
come over sb
come round
come through
come through (sth)
come to
come to sb
come to sth
come under sth
come up
come up against sth
come up to sth
come up with sth
come upon sb/sth
comenoun [ U ]
uk/kʌm/us/kʌm/slangsemen (= the liquid containing sperm)
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Animal physiology: bodily fluids & their production
- beaded
- bogy
- bucket
- discharge
- dribble
- expectorate
- gob
- jism
- lacteal
- lymphatic
- mucus
- perspiration
- phlegm
- pus
- snot
- sperm
- spermatozoon
- spit
- spunk
- sweat buckets idiom
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