(~s, coming, came)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
Note: The form '~' is used in the present tense and is the past participle. 'Come' is used in a large number of expressions which are explained under other words in this dictionary. For example, the expression ‘to ~ to terms with something’ is explained at ‘term’.
1.
When a person or thing ~s to a particular place, especially to a place where you are, they move there.
Two police officers came into the hall...
Come here, Tom...
You’ll have to ~ with us...
We heard the train coming...
Can I ~ too?...
The impact blew out some of the windows and the sea came rushing in.
VERB: V prep/adv, V prep/adv, V prep/adv, V, V, V -ing prep/adv
2.
When someone ~s to do something, they move to the place where someone else is in order to do it, and they do it. In British English, someone can also ~ and do something and in American English, someone can ~ do something. However, you always say that someone came and did something.
Eleanor had ~ to visit her...
Come and meet Roger...
I want you to ~ visit me.
VERB: V to-inf, V and v, V inf
3.
When you ~ to a place, you reach it.
He came to a door that led into a passageway.
VERB: V to n
4.
If something ~s up to a particular point or down to it, it is tall enough, deep enough, or long enough to reach that point.
The water came up to my chest...
I wore a large shirt of Jamie’s which came down over my hips.
VERB: V up/down prep, V up/down prep
5.
If something ~s apart or ~s to pieces, it breaks into pieces. If something ~s off or ~s away, it be~s detached from something else.
The pistol came to pieces, easily and quickly...
The door knobs came off in our hands.
VERB: V adv/prep, V adv/prep
6.
You use ~ in expressions such as ~ to an end or ~ into operation to indicate that someone or something enters or reaches a particular state or situation.
The Communists came to power in 1944...
I came into contact with very bright Harvard and Yale students...
Their worst fears may be coming true.
V-LINK: V to n, V into n, V adj
7.
If someone ~s to do something, they do it at the end of a long process or period of time.
She said it so many times that she came to believe it...
VERB: V to-inf
8.
You can ask how something came to happen when you want to know what caused it to happen or made it possible.
How did you ~ to meet him?
VERB: V to-inf
9.
When a particular event or time ~s, it arrives or happens.
The announcement came after a meeting at the Home Office...
The time has ~ for us to move on...
There will ~ a time when the crisis will occur.
VERB: V prep/adv, V, there V n
coming
Most of my patients wel~ the coming of summer.
N-SING: usu the N of n
10.
You can use ~ before a date, time, or event to mean when that date, time, or event arrives. For example, you can say ~ the spring to mean ‘when the spring arrives’.
Come the election on the 20th of May, we will have to decide...
PREP
11.
If a thought, idea, or memory ~s to you, you suddenly think of it or remember it.
He was about to shut the door when an idea came to him...
Then it came to me that perhaps he did understand.
= occur
VERB: V to n, it V to n that
12.
If money or property is going to ~ to you, you are going to inherit or receive it.
He did have pension money coming to him when the factory shut down.
VERB: V to n
13.
If a case ~s before a court or tribunal or ~s to court, it is presented there so that the court or tribunal can examine it.
The membership application came before the Council of Ministers in September...
President Cristiani expected the case to ~ to court within ninety days.
VERB: V before n, V to n
14.
If something ~s to a particular number or amount, it adds up to it.
Lunch came to $80.
VERB: V to amount
15.
If someone or something ~s from a particular place or thing, that place or thing is their origin, source, or starting point.
Nearly half the students ~ from abroad...
Chocolate ~s from the cacao tree...
The term ‘claret’, used to describe Bordeaux wines, may ~ from the French word ‘clairet’.
VERB: V from n, V from n, V from n
16.
Something that ~s from something else or ~s of it is the result of it.
There is a feeling of power that ~s from driving fast...
He asked to be transferred there some years ago, but nothing came of it.
VERB: V from n/-ing, V of n/-ing
17.
If someone or something ~s first, next, or last, they are first, next, or last in a series, list, or competition.
The two countries have been unable to agree which step should ~ next...
The horse had already won at Lincolnshire and ~ second at Lowesby.
VERB: V ord, V ord
18.
If a type of thing ~s in a particular range of colours, forms, styles, or sizes, it can have any of those colours, forms, styles, or sizes.
Bikes ~ in all shapes and sizes...
The wallpaper ~s in black and white only.
VERB: V in n, V in n
19.
You use ~ in expressions such as it came as a surprise when indicating a person’s reaction to something that happens.
Major’s reply came as a complete surprise to the House of Commons...
The arrest has ~ as a terrible shock.
VERB: V as n to n, V as n
20.
The next subject in a discussion that you ~ to is the one that you talk about next.
Finally in the programme, we ~ to the news that the American composer and conductor, Leonard Bernstein, has died...
That is another matter altogether. And we shall ~ to that next.
VERB: V to n, V to n
21.
To ~ means to have an orgasm. (INFORMAL)
VERB: V
22.
see also coming , comings and goings
23.
If you say that someone is, for example, as good as they ~, or as stupid as they ~, you are emphasizing that they are extremely good or extremely stupid.
The new finance minister was educated at Oxford and is as traditional as they ~.
PHRASE emphasis
24.
You can use the expression when it ~s down to it or when you ~ down to it for emphasis, when you are giving a general statement or conclusion.
When you ~ down to it, however, the basic problems of life have not changed...
PHRASE: PHR with cl emphasis
25.
If you say that someone has it coming to them, you mean that they deserve everything bad that is going to happen to them, because they have done something wrong or are a bad person. If you say that someone got what was coming to them, you mean that they deserved the punishment or bad experience that they have had. (INFORMAL)
He was pleased that Brady was dead because he probably had it coming to him.
PHRASE: V inflects
26.
You use the expression ~ to think of it to indicate that you have suddenly realized something, often something obvious.
You know, when you ~ to think of it, this is very odd.
PHRASE: PHR with cl
27.
When you refer to a time or an event to ~ or one that is still to ~, you are referring to a future time or event.
I hope in years to ~ he will reflect on his decision...
The worst of the storm is yet to ~.
PHRASE: usu n PHR, also v-link PHR
28.
You can use the expression when it ~s to or when it ~s down to in order to introduce a new topic or a new aspect of a topic that you are talking about.
Most of us know we should cut down on fat. But knowing such things isn’t much help when it ~s to shopping and eating...
However, when it ~s down to somebody that they know, they have a different feeling.
PHRASE: PHR n/-ing
29.
You can use expressions like I know where you’re coming from or you can see where she’s coming from to say that you understand someone’s attitude or point of view.
To understand why they are doing it, it is necessary to know where they are coming from...
PHRASE: V inflects