come
- 01 A1 Beginner
v.to move toward the person speaking or toward a specific place.
v.to move toward the speaker or a deictic centre of perspective.
Simple“Please come here for a moment so I can show you this photo.”
In context“The children came running toward the gate as soon as they heard their father's car in the driveway.”
UsageIntransitive; often followed by 'to' and a destination.
PitfallI will go to your house tonight. I will come to your house tonight.Use 'come' when moving toward the person you are talking to, even if you are not there yet.
- 02 A1 Beginner
v.to reach a place or a goal.
v.to arrive at a destination or reach a particular point in time or space.
Simple“The train should come at ten o'clock if there are no delays.”
In context“Winter had come early that year, dusting the peaks with snow before the harvest was even finished.”
- 03 A2 Elementary
v.to have a particular place or family as an origin.
v.to have a specified origin, such as a place, family, or source.
Simple“Many of the students in this class come from different countries.”
In context“The tradition comes from a time when rural communities relied on seasonal festivals to mark the passage of the year.”
UsageUsually followed by the preposition 'from'.
- 04 B1 Intermediate
v.to be sold or made in a specific way, like a certain color or size.
v.to be manufactured, supplied, or made available in a specific form or variety.
Simple“This shirt comes in three different colors: red, blue, and green.”
In context“The new software package comes with a comprehensive manual and twenty-four-hour technical support for all registered users.”
UsageOften followed by 'in' or 'with'.
- 05 B2 Upper Intermediate
v.to take place or happen.
v.to occur or happen, often as a result of something else.
Simple“How did it come that you decided to move to London?”
In context“It came to pass that the two rival families finally settled their differences through a strategic marriage.”
UsageCommon in the phrase 'come to pass'.
- 06 B1 Intermediate
v.to reach a certain condition or feeling over time.
v.to reach a particular state, condition, or realization through a process.
Simple“I have come to realize that learning a language takes a lot of patience.”
In context“After months of negotiation, the two parties have finally come to an agreement regarding the contract terms.”
UsageOften followed by an infinitive, like 'to realize' or 'to understand'.
- 07 C1 Advanced
v.to reach a sexual climax.
v.to achieve orgasm or ejaculate.
Simple“The movie was rated R because the characters were shown coming.”
In context“The explicit nature of the dialogue, including references to coming, made the play controversial among more conservative audiences.”
UsageIntransitive; often spelled 'cum' in this specific sense.
- 08 C1 Advanced
prep.used to talk about a time in the future when something will happen.
prep.used to indicate a point in time at or after which a stated event occurs.
Simple“Come next summer, we will have lived here for ten years.”
In context“Come the revolution, the old structures of power will be swept away by the will of the people.”
UsagePlaced before the time or event it refers to.
Synonyms - 09 C2 Proficiency
n.the liquid that comes out of a man's body during sex.
n.semen or female ejaculatory discharge.
Simple“He wiped the come off his stomach with a towel.”
In context“The presence of come on the sheets was used as evidence in the forensic investigation.”
UsageUncountable; frequently spelled 'cum'.
Synonymssemenejaculate
come vs go — Come indicates movement toward the speaker or listener's current or future location, while go indicates movement away from them toward a different destination.
Usage come across a typo · come back · come forward
From Middle English comen, cumen, from Old English cuman, from Proto-West Germanic kweman, from Proto-Germanic kwemaną (“to come”), from Proto-Indo-European gʷémt (“to step; to arrive”), from gʷem- (“to come, step”). Cognates Cognate from Proto-Germanic with Scots cum (“to come”), Yola come, coome, cum (“to come”), North Frisian kaame, kame, keem, kem, kum, kååme, käme (“to come”), Saterland Frisian kume, kuume (“to come”), West Frisian komme (“to come”), Alemannic German cha, cheemen, cheme, cho, chomu, chéeme (“to come”), Bavarian ckeman, kemma, kemman, khemen, kumma, kumman, kèmmin (“to come”), Central Franconian komme, kunn, kumme (“to come”), Cimbrian ken, khemmen, khèmman (“to come”), Dutch komen, kommen (“to come”), Dutch Low Saxon kåmen (“to come”), German and Luxembourgish kommen (“to come”), Low German kamen, kuemen (“to come”), Mòcheno kemmen (“to come”), Yiddish קימען (kimen), קומען (kumen, “to come”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål komme (“to come”), Elfdalian kumå (“to come”), Faroese and Icelandic koma (“to come; to arrive”), Jamtish kuma (“to come”), Norwegian Nynorsk koma, komma, komme, kåmmå, kåmå (“to come”), Swedish komma (“to come”), Crimean Gothic kommen (“to come”), Gothic 𐌵𐌹𐌼𐌰𐌽 (qiman, “to come”). Cognate from Proto-Indo-European with Latin venio (“to come; to approach”), Greek βήμα (víma, “pace, step”), Albanian ngah, ngaj (“to hasten, run”), Latvian dzimt (“to be born”), Lithuanian gimti (“to be born”), Armenian եկ (ek, “the act of coming, arrival; income”), Avestan 𐬔𐬀𐬨 (gam, “to come, go”), Northern Kurdish gav (“step”), Persian گام (gâm, “step”), Tocharian A kum- (“to come”), Tocharian B käm- (“to come”), Sanskrit गम् (gam, “to come, go, move”).
See comma.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.