What does come up mean?

come up means "bring forth, usually something desirable". That is the primary sense; the word has 12 in total, listed in full on this page.

What is another word for come up?

Close synonyms include arise, come, surface, rise up, rise. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is come up a common word?

come up is banded "Core" — among the few thousand words that carry most english. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

come up — meaning, pronunciation and 12 definitions

verb

12 sensesAn action, occurrence or state of being.

1.
bring forth, usually something desirable
“The committee came up with some interesting recommendations”
Broadergenerate
2.
result or issue
“A slight unpleasantness arose from this discussion”
Synonymsarise
Broaderhappen
Narrowercondense open come up
3.
move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
“He came singing down the road”
“Come with me to the Casbah”
“come down here!”
“come out of the closet!”
“come into the room”
Synonymscome
Broadertravel
Narroweremanate address approach
4.
come to the surface
Synonymssurface rise up rise
Broaderascend
Narroweremerge resurface bubble up well
5.
originate or come into being
“a question arose”
Synonymsarise bob up
Broaderbecome
6.
move upward
“The fog lifted”
“The smoke arose from the forest fire”
“The mist uprose from the meadows”
Synonymsrise lift arise move up go up uprise
Broadertravel
Narrowerscend climb soar go up rocket bubble uplift chandelle steam rise
7.
be mentioned
“These names came up in the discussion”
Broaderarise
8.
start running, functioning, or operating
“the lights went on”
“the computer came up”
Synonymsgo on come on
Broaderstart
9.
get something or somebody for a specific purpose
“I found this gadget that will serve as a bottle opener”
“I got hold of these tools to fix our plumbing”
“The chairman got hold of a secretary on Friday night to type the urgent letter”
Synonymsline up get hold find
Broaderget
10.
come up, of celestial bodies
“The sun also rises”
“The sun uprising sees the dusk night fled...”
“Jupiter ascends”
Synonymsrise uprise ascend
Broaderrise
astronomy
11.
gather (money or other resources) together over time
“She had scraped together enough money for college”
“they scratched a meager living”
Synonymsscrape scrape up scratch
Broaderroll up
Narrowernickel-and-dime
12.
gather or bring together
“muster the courage to do something”
“she rallied her intellect”
“Summon all your courage”
Synonymsmuster rally summon muster up
Broadergather

Questions about come up

What does come up mean?: come up means "bring forth, usually something desirable". That is the primary sense; the word has 12 in total, listed in full on this page.
What is another word for come up?: Close synonyms include arise, come, surface, rise up, rise. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.
Is come up a common word?: come up is banded "Core" — among the few thousand words that carry most english. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for come up come from Princeton University’s WordNet. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.

verb

12 sensesAn action, occurrence or state of being.

1.
bring forth, usually something desirable
“The committee came up with some interesting recommendations”
Broadergenerate
2.
result or issue
“A slight unpleasantness arose from this discussion”
Synonymsarise
Broaderhappen
Narrowercondense open come up
3.
move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
“He came singing down the road”
“Come with me to the Casbah”
“come down here!”
“come out of the closet!”
“come into the room”
Synonymscome
Broadertravel
Narroweremanate address approach
4.
come to the surface
Synonymssurface rise up rise
Broaderascend
Narroweremerge resurface bubble up well
5.
originate or come into being
“a question arose”
Synonymsarise bob up
Broaderbecome
6.
move upward
“The fog lifted”
“The smoke arose from the forest fire”
“The mist uprose from the meadows”
Synonymsrise lift arise move up go up uprise
Broadertravel
Narrowerscend climb soar go up rocket bubble uplift chandelle steam rise
7.
be mentioned
“These names came up in the discussion”
Broaderarise
8.
start running, functioning, or operating
“the lights went on”
“the computer came up”
Synonymsgo on come on
Broaderstart
9.
get something or somebody for a specific purpose
“I found this gadget that will serve as a bottle opener”
“I got hold of these tools to fix our plumbing”
“The chairman got hold of a secretary on Friday night to type the urgent letter”
Synonymsline up get hold find
Broaderget
10.
come up, of celestial bodies
“The sun also rises”
“The sun uprising sees the dusk night fled...”
“Jupiter ascends”
Synonymsrise uprise ascend
Broaderrise
astronomy
11.
gather (money or other resources) together over time
“She had scraped together enough money for college”
“they scratched a meager living”
Synonymsscrape scrape up scratch
Broaderroll up
Narrowernickel-and-dime
12.
gather or bring together
“muster the courage to do something”
“she rallied her intellect”
“Summon all your courage”
Synonymsmuster rally summon muster up
Broadergather

Questions about come up

What does come up mean?: come up means "bring forth, usually something desirable". That is the primary sense; the word has 12 in total, listed in full on this page.
What is another word for come up?: Close synonyms include arise, come, surface, rise up, rise. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.
Is come up a common word?: come up is banded "Core" — among the few thousand words that carry most english. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for come up come from Princeton University’s WordNet. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.

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