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to come away

to come away

46 3.7
To leave a situation with a new feeling or opinion
  • phrasal verb
  • /kʌm əˈweɪ/
translation icon : salir con
  • Anyone searching Washington today for a similar vision will come away disappointed.
  • come away from the experience
  • come away feeling
  • come away thinking

And I mean, like I say, I come away from this work a pessimist.

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Examples

  • We had a great time, and we came away with lots of amazing ideas.

    Blog text (5)
  • Students who have been exposed to anthropology often come away as cultural relativists.

    Academic text (2000)
  • But you, it is easy to come away thinking that you love this town.

  • And I came away thinking this guy may have a future in politics.

  • So you may come away from it with with a concept.

  • OK well, we're going to try and answer all these questions and a whole lot more today so you can come away with some understanding.

  • We will be playing our hearts out tomorrow for our fans, our country, and ourselves, and hopefully, we'll come away with the right result.

  • President Obama came away from the meeting with renewed confidence.

  • The reader will come away from an hour of Googling with a lot of information.

    Academic text (2011)
  • After the workshop, I came away with new skills that I couldn't wait to use.

Synonyms

to leave
vsto come away
1.0

To go away from a place, person, or group

highlights the resulting state after an experience rather than mere absence
to go away
vsto come away
709 1.0

To leave a place or person and go somewhere else

focuses on the change in state caused by an experience
to walk away
vsto come away
632 3.5

Leave a person, place, or situation without taking part anymore

focuses on the resulting state after an experience rather than intentional detachment

How Changed

to come away
46 3.7
to change
1.0

Surface Forms

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

Morphology

come + away

The meaning is related to the literal constituents: 'come' + 'away' signals moving away or leaving, and in contexts like 'came away feeling…' this motion is extended to a resultant state after an experience. However, the shift from physical movement to a resultant emotional or evaluative state is a metaphorical extension that is not fully predictable from the parts, so a B1 learner may only partially infer the precise meaning without prior exposure.

Etymology

Come away gives the image of leaving a place: the parts come and away show you move off while holding something, like a new idea or a strong feeling you take with you. So it means 'to leave a situation feeling a certain way' or 'to have learned something from an experience'.