to come across
244
2.6
- phrasal verb
- /kʌm əˈkrɔs/
:
encontrarse con
- I suddenly came across an old photograph of my grandparents while cleaning the attic.
- come across a word
- happen to come across
- come across a case
Now, that word unconditional, when I first came across it floored me.
- Now, that word unconditional, when I first came across it floored me.
- I also haven't really come across this racist element.
- But many of you ladies have come across men who are insecure.
- And three days went by and then we came across a waterfall.
- OK, The vlog is not over yet because we just came across this whale bone.
- And when I would come across them, I'd click the profile.
- Did you ever come across Michael B Jordan?
- What's, what's your background and when did you first come across artificial intelligence?
- And so when I came across the Actors Gang, I took it.
- And in fact, there's this Hasidic parable that I came across that talks about.
- And yeah, next I came across these two highlighting palettes.
- And anyway, he was essentially left and we came across him at the high camp.
- At some point, invariably you come across feedback that you should listen to.
- Sometimes I come across the weirdest crap.
Examples
-
Just came across a first edition of Kandinsky's Theory of Color.
-
In reviewing the material for this story, I came across a curious coincidence.
Fiction book (1994) -
What would he do if he came across the person?
-
I remember coming across him at the base on the way home.
-
Did you ever come across Michael B Jordan?
-
Until one day, I came across some strange ruins.
-
And three days went by and then we came across a waterfall.
-
At some point, invariably you come across feedback that you should listen to.
-
Some of you may have come across him because he's autistic.
-
For example, as I searched for paintings among Jacob Lawrence's works, I came across Forward Together.
Academic text (2008)
Synonyms
∞
1.0
To discover something while looking or by accident
∞
2.1
To learn something you did not know, often by searching or asking
∞
1.0
Find out about something often by chance
∞
1.0
To find out about something for the first time, often by chance
442
3.2
To meet someone or find a problem unexpectedly
338
2.7
Meet someone by chance without planning
171
2.8
To find something by chance
155
3.0
To find something while searching or by chance
153
2.8
To meet someone by chance while you are out
127
3.2
Get something, often by luck or after effort
55
2.2
To meet someone by chance in a public place
50
2.2
To find something or someone by chance
43
2.7
Find something by chance while doing something else
37
2.8
To find something by chance
32
3.7
Meet someone by chance
18
6.1
To find something or someone by accident while doing something else
15
4.9
Find a person or thing by chance
10
3.9
To find something by accident
7
4.9
To find or think of something by chance
5
3.6
To find something by chance
3
5.1
Find someone or something by accident
2
5.6
To find something by chance
1
5.8
To find a person or thing by chance while you are going somewhere
1
6.3
To become available to someone, often information or documents
To meet someone unexpectedly, often by chance
How Unexpectedly
Surface Forms
Morphology
come + across
The meaning 'to be perceived/appear' is a metaphorical extension of the literal motion sense of 'come' + 'across' (i.e. coming across someone’s perception), so there is a detectable connection to the constituents but not a fully predictable one. Phrasal verbs like this often require prior exposure for learners to map the particle's abstract meaning, so a B1 learner who only knows the literal words would likely only partially infer the sense.
Etymology
Come across comes from the simple picture of walking into something by chance: you come and go across a place and suddenly meet an object or person, like finding an old photo while cleaning, so it means 'to find by chance'.