Come Idioms

(English Idioms & Sayings) Come Idioms

come a cropper

- to fail
The man came a cropper in the chess tournament and that is why he is sad.

come a long way

- to make great progress
The manager has come a long way and has learned many things about his new company.

come about

- to happen
Everybody believes that the plans for the new community center will never come about.

come across (someone or something)

- to find something or meet someone by chance
I came across an interesting story in the newspaper last week.

Come again.

- Please repeat or say that again.
"Come again. I did not hear you the first time."

come alive

- to brighten up and become active
The girl finally came alive and began to enjoy the party.

come along

- to make progress, to thrive
The work on our new house is coming along very well.

come around

- to finally agree to something, to return to consciousness or wake up
My father finally came around and agreed to let me go to Germany to study.

come as no surprise

- to not be surprising
It came as no surprise when the government decided to have an election.

come away empty-handed

- to return without anything
Nobody came away empty-handed at the end of the birthday party.

come back

- to return to the place where you are now
My cousin came back from her holidays last week.

come back (into fashion)

- to become popular again
Recently bell-bottom pants have come back into fashion.

come back to (someone)

- to return to one`s memory
The strange events of last year are slowly coming back to me.

come between (two people)

- to disrupt the relationship between (two people)
The mother's constant interfering finally came between the man and his wife.

come by (something)

- to get/obtain/acquire something
My aunt came by a lot of money recently and is now enjoying her life.

come clean

- to tell the truth
The president of the company was forced to come clean and tell what really happened to the business.

a come-down

- a lowering in status/income/influence/energy
Her new job is a come-down from her last one and she is not very happy.

come down hard on (someone)

- to scold or punish someone severely
The police have been coming down hard on drunk drivers recently.

come down in the world

- to lose one's social position
My father came down in the world when he decided to change jobs.

come down to earth

- to stop imagining or dreaming
My friend has finally come down to earth and is seriously looking for a job.

come down to (something)

- to be reduced to something
The man's decision about the job came down to how it would affect his family.

come down with (something)

- to become sick with a cold etc.
My mother came down with a cold so was unable to attend the dinner.

come from (somewhere)

- to be a native of a place
Several of the new students come from Mexico.

come from far and wide

- to come from many different places
The people came from far and wide to hear the new band.

come from nowhere

- to come as a surprise and with no warning
The truck came from nowhere as we were driving along the road.

come full circle

- to be completely opposite from one`s starting point
The university has come full circle with its policy on foreign students.

come hell or high water

- no matter what happens
Come hell or high water I plan to go to the concert next week.

come home to (someone)

- to become apparent to someone
It suddenly came home to the young family that their house had been destroyed in the fire.

come in handy

- to be useful or convenient
I think that the small hammer will come in handy to fix the desk.

come into (some money)

- to get possession of some money, to inherit some money
The man came into a lot of money which he donated to charity.

come into fashion

- to become fashionable
My sister says that although bell-bottom pants have come into fashion again she will never wear them.

come into one`s own

- to begin to perform or work well because of good circumstances
The player has come into his own as a basketball player since he changed positions.

come of age

- to be old enough to vote/marry/sign legal contracts etc.
When the members of our class came of age everyone started to vote.

come off

- to be successful, to happen
The party came off without any problems so everyone was very happy.

come on!

- please, hurry, go faster
"Come on, I only have a few minutes before I must go."
"Come on, stop doing that."

come on strong

- to overwhelm others with a strong personality
The man came on too strong during the job interview and was unable to get the job.

come on the scene

- to appear in a certain area or place
When the new DVD player came on the scene everybody wanted one.

come out ahead

- to improve one's situation
Although our new car was expensive, we came out ahead as it is very cheap to operate.

come out for (someone or something)

- to announce one's support for (someone or something)
The mayor recently came out for legal gambling in the city.

come out in the wash

- to work out all right
Everything came out in the wash as the students worked out their problems.

come out of left field

- to come from an unexpected place
The manager's new idea came out of left field and we have no idea what it means.

come out of nowhere

- to appear suddenly
The eagle came out of nowhere and captured the small mouse.

come out of one's shell

- to become more friendly or sociable
My sister's little boy came out of his shell and began to talk to everybody around him.

come out of the blue

- to appear suddenly (as if from the sky)
My idea for making money suddenly came out of the blue.

come out of the closet

- to reveal one's secret interests, to reveal that one is gay
Nobody was surprised when my cousin came out of the closet.

come out with (something)

- to say something, to make something known
The child has recently come out with many strange and funny expressions.

come over

- to come for a visit
My friend is going to come over for a visit next week.

come over

- to change sides
The politician supports the opposition but we hope that he will soon come over to our side.

come (someone's) way

- to come to someone
A small blue car came my way while I waited on the highway.

come through

- to do what one is expected to do (often under difficult circumstances)
My friend will always come through when we need his help.

come to

- to regain consciousness
The woman came to a few hours after the accident.

come to do/feel (something)

- to begin/learn to do or feel something
At first I disliked the girl but recently I have come to accept her.

come to a bad end

- to have a disaster, to die
The man and his family came to a bad end when they moved to the country.

come to a dead end

- to be unable to go any further
We kept driving on the dirt road until we came to a dead end.

come to a head

- to come to a point where a problem must be solved
The issue came to a head and everyone was forced to talk about the problem.

come to an end

- to stop, to finish
When the story came to an end both of the children had fallen asleep.

come to a pretty pass

- to develop into a bad or difficult situation
Things came to a pretty pass and nobody knew what to do about the problem.

come to a standstill

- to stop
The circus came to a standstill when the elephant escaped from his cage.

come to blows

- to begin to fight
The two men came to blows when they were trying to fix the car.

come to grief

- to have a bad accident or disappointment
The man has recently come to much grief because of his son`s problems with the police.

come to grips with (something)

- to struggle (successfully) with an idea or problem
The woman has finally come to grips with her husband`s gambling.

come to life

- to become alive or lively
The party came to life when the host and hostess entered the room.

come to light

- to be discovered, to become known
It has come to light that the company recently lost millions of dollars.

come to mind

- to enter into one's consciousness
Nothing came to mind when I tried to remember the names of the actors.

come to nothing/naught

- to end in failure
All of my efforts to help my sister find a job came to nothing.

come to one`s senses

- to begin to think clearly or act sensibly
He came to his senses and decided to buy a cheap car rather than an expensive one.

come to pass

- to happen, to occur
I do not know what will come to pass but for now the company has many financial problems.

come to terms with (someone or something)

- to reach an agreement with someone, to accept something
We finally came to terms with the bank and were able to buy the house.

come to the fore

- to come into an important place or position, to come to the front
Several members of the class came to the fore and decided to take important positions in the club.

come to the point

- to be direct
His speech was interesting but he never really came to the point.

come true

- to actually happen
The young girl is working hard to make her dreams come true.

come unglued

- to lose emotional control
The woman came unglued when she learned that she had lost her job.

come up

- to happen unexpectedly
I know that I will not be able to go to the party if something comes up.

come up in the world

- to improve one's status or situation in life
I knew that I had come up in the world when I was invited to dinner with the president of our company.

come up smelling like roses

- to look good after a difficult or bad time
Everybody in the company looked bad except for my friend who came up smelling like roses.

come up with (something)

- to produce or find a thought/idea/answer
I tried to come up with a name for the new magazine.

come what may

- no matter what might happen
Come what may I was determined to go to Spain for my holidays.

come with the territory

- to be expected under the circumstances (like something that comes with a sales territory)
The fact that the man has no free time comes with the territory with his work as a news reporter.


Posted by Learning English through Idioms and Sayings