to come about
105
4.0
- phrasal verb
- /kʌm əˈbaʊt/
:
ocurrir
- A new turn of events will soon come about.
- change comes about
- come about as a result
- things come about
For the effect could have come about in multiple ways.
- For the effect could have come about in multiple ways.
- And the idea came about, um, that,
- This project came about as a sort of fluke.
- But you know, this opportunity came about and I took it with both hands.
- How did that all come about for a sprinter?
- So once that swell of, like, craving comes about, this is offline.
- Can you sort of describe how that came about and how you were left feeling afterwards?
- The truth is that the peak in the care homes came about a month later.
- Now, there's a second thing that comes about from inflation that is remarkable.
- Could you tell us kind of how that came about?
- So yeah, tell me how that came about.
- Where big dispute came about was how often does this happen?
- So all of that came about to where we are today.
Examples
-
But you know, this opportunity came about and I took it with both hands.
-
Many surprises can come about when you least expect them.
-
Now it's difficult to explain how that is going to come about, he says.
-
And how does that come about by accident?
-
Look, we will maybe never know how all this came about, whose idea it was.
-
I already told you how all of this came about.
-
How did this all come about?
-
So the change only came about because of chance or necessity.
-
More significant findings could come about from a study using participants with reading difficulties.
Academic text (2015) -
None of this, however, will come about without active U.S. participation and encouragement.
Academic text (2008)
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Happen or become known after some time
∞
1.0
To take place, often by chance and without planning
∞
1.3
Happen or be taking place
∞
1.8
Happen, especially when something is planned or scheduled
896
2.6
To be mentioned in a discussion
770
2.0
Happen without being planned or expected
333
3.3
Start to exist or happen
183
3.0
To appear or arrive when you do not expect it
20
4.3
To appear suddenly, often as a problem or question
3
9.9
To take place
2
3.9
Happen because of something
1
9.1
To happen as a result of something
How Planned
Surface Forms
Morphology
The verb 'come' already has an occurrence-related sense and combined with the particle 'about' the phrase expresses 'happen', so part of the meaning is inferable from the constituents. However, 'about' does not keep its usual 'on the subject of' meaning and functions as a phrasal-particle, so the exact sense is not fully predictable without exposure; cross-linguistic realizations vary, making it only partially transparent.
Etymology
Come about comes from old sailors. When a ship had to change direction it would literally come about — turn around — and that image of a sudden turn helped the phrase come to mean when something 'happens' or 'occurs'.