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Glite Dictionary
🚶 To get closer 😬 To almost do ⏰ To approach (time)
to come near

to come near

2 3.0
To almost do or experience something without doing it
  • phrasal verb
  • /kʌm nɪr/
translation icon : estar a punto de
  • The car came near hitting a deer as it crossed the road.
  • never come near
  • came near the end

And each time I came near the end, never the last, but very close to last.

Examples

  • But they never come near the castle.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • So the ecosystem in Silicon Valley is so powerful, no one is going to come near us as far as I can see.

  • No one came near us; no one dared.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • And the old lady shooed Livvie and me away whenever we came near.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • We built a fire on the beach, and the children played in the surf and came near to get warm, then raced back to the frigid water.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • The child was so afraid that she cried when I came near her.

  • I almost fell off the edge when I came near the cliff.

Synonyms

to get closer to
vsto come near
105 1.9

Make progress toward finishing or achieving something

is the nearer state of almost achieving rather than gradual progress
to come close
vsto come near
51 2.8

To nearly do or experience something but fail to do it

is the same meaning and shows no real difference in sense
to be within striking distance
vsto come near
8 4.7

Close enough to get what you want soon

is about almost doing or experiencing something rather than ready success
to verge
vsto come near
6 5.1

To come very close to being something

is close in the same way but not necessarily so extremely near

How Close

on the verge of
144 3.8
to come near
2 3.0

Surface Forms

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

Morphology

come + near

The meaning 'to be close to doing or experiencing something' is directly derivable from combining 'come' (move toward/arrive) with 'near' (close/almost). This composition — literal physical approach or closeness in degree (e.g., 'come near to doing something') — is a regular, cross-linguistic pattern and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.

Etymology

Come near can also mean 'almost do' something. The idea is being very close to an action—like almost crying or almost hitting the window—but stopping before it happens, so the phrase means 'almost do'.