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Glite Dictionary
⏭️ To follow in time 🔄 To succeed someone
to come after

to come after

49 3.6
To become the next person in a job or position
  • phrasal verb
  • /kʌm ˈæftər/
translation icon : suceder a
  • Well, eventually, one of them was gonna come after you.

And so she says friendship should be what ends up coming after love.

Examples

  • Yeah, but do you remember if anything else came after that?

    Night Key (1937)

  • Why didn't you come after me?

    Old Fashioned (2014)

  • So she speaks out, and they come after her, too.

  • I would always come after you here, Olivia.

  • We thought regulators would come after us and that was a scary time.

  • She said they would come after her because she knew something.

    Don't Worry Darling (2022)

  • They'll probably come after me again.

    Beyond the Law (2019)

  • They came after my family.

    Nobody (2021)

  • He didn't realize that they would come after him as well.

  • We must consider the values we instill in our children, as they will come after us and lead the future.

Synonyms

to follow
vsto come after
∞ 1.0

To come after something in time or order

is used for actually replacing someone in a role or office
to succeed
vsto come after
  • Formal
129 4.4

To take someone's job or position after they leave

is used more broadly for replacing someone without formal legal claim

Antonyms

to precede
107 4.1

Happen before something else in time or order

How Immediate

to succeed
  • Formal
129 4.4
to take over
862 3.1
to come after
49 3.6
to replace
∞ 1.8
to follow
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

come after infinitive
came after past
come after past participle
coming after present participle
comes after third person singular

Morphology

come + after

The sense 'to follow in order or position' is directly derivable from combining 'come' (to arrive/move) with 'after' (subsequently/in sequence). The composition follows a common motion/order pattern found across many languages, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Come after also gives the image of one person or thing stepping into the next place behind another. Think of a new leader walking on stage after the old one; the new person comes after the first, which is why the phrase means 'to follow someone in position' or be a 'successor'.