to come across
106
3.9
- phrasal verb
- /kʌm əˈkrɔs/
:
parecer
- To get the job, you need to come across as committed to the practice of law.
- come across as
- come across clearly
- make someone come across
I think his apology came across extremely well.
- I think his apology came across extremely well.
- So you don't understand how she's coming across when she's dealing with men.
- Don't let what you might be thinking come across on your face.
- The surface level is how we come across to other people, how we're perceived.
- So if that's coming across, I'm sorry, that's what I'm going through.
- So much of the battle is coming across like someone people can trust.
- You know, you, you, you don't come across like that at all.
- But they edit oh so carefully so that everyone comes across like that.
- I hope it comes across the way it's meant.
- But you got to understand how you're coming across when you talk to somebody, OK.
- The pain comes across, but I'm not doing it on purpose.
- But using the exact same image across AMD and Intel does come across a little sloppy.
- What would be fair does come across like that.
- So let me tell you how it came across this Green New Deal.
- It's more so that it just comes across more hard, more detached.
Examples
-
What comes across very strongly is your understanding of male psychology.
-
I think his apology came across extremely well.
-
And that will come across in this interview.
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I hope it comes across the way it's meant.
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Well, it comes across as love.
-
The surface level is how we come across to other people, how we're perceived.
-
Christian-right candidates are advised to come across as concerned parents rather than as representatives of the religious right.
Academic text (1994) -
In interviews, he has expressed obvious sorrow and regret, and he comes across as a truly sympathetic character.
Academic text (2011) -
Mary and Thomas, by contrast, come across as "inflexible and resolute"; they reject the magistrates' offers of peace.
Academic text (2015) -
To get the job, you need to come across as committed to the practice of law.
Synonyms
∞
2.0
To seem to be true but not certain
99
3.1
To seem a certain way to other people when you say or show something
65
3.7
To seem to other people in a particular way
49
4.1
Seem to other people in a certain way
How Favorable
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 also describes how you seem to others: imagine someone stepping across a room — the way they come and move across people shows their mood or style, so the phrase came to mean 'to seem' or 'to give an impression'.