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Glite Dictionary
✅ To reach a result 💡 To realize 😵‍💫 To wake up ➕ To add up
to come to

to come to

546 3.1
Suddenly have an idea or memory
  • phrasal verb
  • /kʌm tu/
translation icon : ocurrirse (a alguien)
  • After thinking about the issue, a solution finally came to him in the middle of the night.
  • come to mind
  • come to realize
  • come to understand

And the conclusion I've come to is, OK, it's Tesla.

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Examples

  • What, what is the truth you've come to based on your experience.

  • And the conclusion I've come to is, OK, it's Tesla.

    WVFRM Podcast

  • Tell me anything that comes to your mind.

    Book Club: The Next Chapter (2023)

  • Just anything that comes to mind when you look at me.

    Theater Camp (2023)

  • I'll say something and you say the first word that comes to your mind.

    I'm Not Gay : A Musical (2023)

  • Only later did I come to recognize that, for her, there had been no choice.

    Academic text (2011)

  • Which, of course, is how Pat and I came to know each other.

    Bagman (2024)

  • It shows the process by which he comes to know the world around him.

  • As a consequence, New Delhi has come to enjoy considerable influence in Afghanistan.

    Academic text (2011)

  • Then, in desperation, it came to me that Anna's grandparents may know something.

    Hitler's Children (1943)

Synonyms

to hit
vsto come to
∞ 2.8

To suddenly make someone feel a strong emotion

is a neutral sudden mental occurrence without strong negative emotion
to strike
vsto come to
821 3.9

To suddenly cause a strong feeling or idea

is restricted to ideas, thoughts, or realizations suddenly occurring to someone
to occur
vsto come to
339 2.4

Come into someone's mind suddenly or unexpectedly

is identical in meaning, describing the same sudden idea experience
to come to mind
vsto come to
120 3.0

To suddenly think of something or remember it

is the same sudden experience of an idea with no real difference
to hit upon
vsto come to
7 4.9

To find or think of something by chance

is a sudden idea appearing without being discovered after effort or search
to burst upon
vsto come to
1 6.1

Suddenly appear in a place or in someone's mind and surprise people

is the sudden experience of an idea without dramatic impact or surprise
to dawn on someone
vsto come to
4.4

An idea becomes clear to someone, often suddenly

is the sudden arrival of an idea rather than a process of gaining clarity

Antonyms

to forget
∞ 1.0

Not remember something you should remember

to fade away
69 3.0

To become weaker and then disappear over time

How Clear

to come to
546 3.1
to realize
  • US
∞ 1.1
to notice
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

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

Morphology

come + to

The verb 'come' carries the meaning 'arrive at a state' and the particle/preposition 'to' marks the target, so 'come to (a realization)' can be interpreted as 'arrive at a realization' — a composition that a learner who knows the constituents can often infer. However, 'come to' is polysemous (e.g. 'regain consciousness', 'amount to') and the precise idiomatic usage with abstract nouns requires familiarity with the collocation, so it is not fully predictable in all contexts.

Etymology

Come to is like an idea arriving at your mind, as if a visitor has walked up to you, so when a thought 'comes to' you it suddenly appears and the phrase means 'to occur to someone'.