come upon

come up·on

C c

Transcription

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
- [kuhm uh-pon, uh-pawn]
- /kʌm əˈpɒn, əˈpɔn/
- /kʌm əˈpɒn/

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [kuhm uh-pon, uh-pawn]
- /kʌm əˈpɒn, əˈpɔn/

Definitions of come upon words

phrasal verb come upon If you come upon someone or something, you meet them or find them by chance. 3
phrasal verb come upon If an attitude or feeling comes upon you, it begins to affect you. 3
verb come upon to meet or encounter unexpectedly 3
noun come upon to meet or encounter by accident 3
noun come upon to attack 3
verb without object come upon to approach or move toward a particular person or place: Come here. Don't come any closer! 1

See all 40 definitions of come upon

Information block about the term

Origin of come upon

First appearance:

before 900

One of the 4% oldest English words

before 900; Middle English comen, Old English cuman; cognate with Dutch komen, German kommen, Gothic qiman, Old Norse koma, Latin venīre (see avenue), Greek baínein (see basis), Sanskrit gácchati (he) goes

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Come upon

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

Full grammatical hierarchy of Come upon

come upon popularity

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 98% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.

Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".

come upon usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for come upon

verb come upon

come across — If you come across something or someone, you find them or meet them by chance.
bump into — If you bump into someone you know, you meet them unexpectedly.
chance — If there is a chance of something happening, it is possible that it will happen.
meet — greatest lower bound

All 4 Synonyms of come upon