come

verb

Simple meaning

Move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

kuhm

US device voice

IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈkʌm

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

Move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
To move toward the speaker.
To move toward the listener.
intransitive
To move nearer to the point of perspective.
in subordinate clauses and gerunds
To move toward the agent or subject of the main clause.
intransitivewith from or sometimes of
To have as an origin, originate.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty: A1 · Beginner
Frequency: Very Common
Typical Use: Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody

Used this way, come is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone: Neutral
Formality: Neutral
Intensity: Not strongly marked
How common: Moderately common
Connotation: No strong connotation
Usage feel: Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use come

“These shoes come in three colors.”verb

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

come backcome homecome together

Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.

Similar Words, What’s the Difference?

Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.

fare
To go, travel.
fall
To move downwards.
descend
Of a zodiac sign: to move away from the zenith towards the horizon.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

comernounInflected form
Someone with a promising future.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

come downverbCompound term
Move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way.
come forthverbCompound term
Come out of.
come forwardverbCompound term
Make oneself visible.
come hell or high wateradverbCompound term
In spite of all obstacles.
come homeverbCompound term
Become clear or enter one's consciousness or emotions.
come inverbCompound term
To come or go into.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: move toward or travel toward something or somebody

descendcome up

Antonyms

Sense: move toward or travel toward something or somebody

goInformal

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.