Word.ws English Dictionary

came across

came across is the simple past of come across.

Meaning of come across

Verb

come across (third-person singular simple present comes across, present participle coming across, simple past came across, past participle come across)

  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see come, across.
    • He came across the street towards me.
  2. (figuratively) To change sides; to cross over to work for the opposition.
    • You argued well in court but your firm doesn't pay its lawyers well, so why don't you come across to ours?
    Synonyms:
    come over
  3. (idiomatic) To give an appearance or impression; to project a certain image; to seem or appear (to be some way).
    • How did she come across when you met with her?
    Synonyms:
    come off, come over
  4. (idiomatic, transitive) To find, usually by accident.
    • In the dark he came across an old box by accident.
  5. To produce what was desired; to come up with the goods.
    • Near-synonym: come through
    Synonyms:
    come through
  6. (idiomatic, intransitive) To give in and do what is wanted or expected; to acquiesce to something.
    • Near-synonym: come around
    Synonyms:
    come around

See all 8 meanings of come across

Questions about came across

What is came across the simple past of?
Came across is the simple past of come across.

Words near came across in the dictionary

  1. came
  2. came a cropper
  3. came a gutser
  4. came a long way
  5. came about
  6. came across
  7. came across with
  8. came after
  9. came alive
  10. came aloft
  11. came along

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: came across (page history and authors); come across (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “came across.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/came_across. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.