Dictionary

come up with en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (idiomatic, transitive) To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it.
   • Eric Andre: Were you born black or did you come up with a stage name and get a ton of surgery? Blac Chyna: I came up with it. 2023, The Eric Andre Show, season 6, episode 3:
   • How can you come up with such brilliant ideas?
   • Unless Geoff can come up with the money for that train ticket, he'll be stuck in Des Moines for the weekend.
   • In 2001, she was legally declared dead, but police and private investigators have continued to come up with compelling leads. 2026 August 10, Nicholas Muhoro, “Jodi Huisentruit, 27, Vanished From Her Apartment Parking Lot in 1995. Police Found Signs of a Struggle”, in Skip Boring, archived from the original on 11 Aug 2026:
   • And now we're waiting for the very same people to establish GBR, drive through urgently needed fares reform, and come up with imaginative and effective train operating contracts... 2022 January 12, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Unhappy start to 2022”, in RAIL, number 948, page 3:
2. (idiomatic, transitive) To reach or overtake.
3. (idiomatic, transitive) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see come, up, with.
   • He came up with a bag of rice, having it carried it up from downstairs.

Forms

Coordinates

dream up · come down with · cough up · fork out · conjure up · fork over · put down · shell out

Deriveds

come up with the goods · come up with snake eyes

Relateds

come up short · come across · come away with

Synonyms

catch up with

Translations (43)

ar أَتَى بِـ (to invent, create) · pl dostawać (to obtain) · is finna upp (to invent, create) · it inventare (to invent, create) · uk приду́мувати (to invent, create) · nl bedenken (to invent, create) · liv ulzmõtlõ (to invent, create) · es discurrir (to invent, create) · pt pensar (em) (to invent, create) · cmn 想出 (to invent, create) · fi keksiä (to invent, create) · pl wymyślić (to invent, create) · es inventar (to invent, create) · pl wymyślać (to invent, create) · pl dostać (to obtain) · pox novirgnǫt (to invent, create) · ru приходить в голову (to invent, create) · et välja mõtlema (to invent, create) · de ausdenken (to invent, create) · cmn 提出 (to invent, create) · es ocurrirse (to invent, create) · sk vymyslieť (to invent, create) · pl wpaść (to invent, create) · es conseguir (to obtain) · es elucubrar (to invent, create) · lv izdomāt (to invent, create) · mk смисли (to invent, create) · fr inventer (to invent, create) · pl wpadać (to invent, create) · nl verzinnen (to invent, create) · es idear (to invent, create) · es inventarse (to invent, create) · fr imaginer (to invent, create) · it escogitare (to invent, create) · mg mamorona (to invent, create) · da finde på (to invent, create) · da udtænke (to invent, create) · es ingeniarse (to invent, create) · es ingeniar (to invent, create) · pt alcançar (to invent, create) · ru придумывать (to invent, create) · ar جَاءَ بِـ (to invent, create) · it ideare (to invent, create)