Word.ws English Dictionary

came back

came back is the simple past of come back.

Meaning of come back

Verb

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

  1. (intransitive) To return to a place.
    • But he never knew that it really was his own Bunny, come back to look at the child who had first helped him to be Real.1921 June, Margery Williams, “The Velveteen Rabbit: Or How Toys Become Real”, in Harper’s Bazar, volume LVI, number 6 (2504 overall), New York, N.Y.: International Magazine Company, →ISSN, →OCLC
  2. (intransitive) To return to one's possession, especially of memories.
    • Suddenly it all came back to him, the tea, the petite madeleines, his mother.
  3. (intransitive) To return to a relationship with a former romantic partner.
    • […] I don't wanna sit on the pavement while you fly / But I will, I will, oh yes I will / 'Cause maybe, in the future, you're gonna come back, you're gonna come back around / Maybe, in the future, you're gonna come back, you're gonna come back[…]2009 July 14, Ingrid Michaelson, “Maybe”, in Everybody
  4. (intransitive) To return to a former state, usually a desirable one; to become fashionable once more.
    • Many people counted him out, but he came back better than ever.
  5. (intransitive) To retort.
    • He came back with one of his snide remarks.

Questions about came back

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

Words near came back in the dictionary

  1. came as no surprise
  2. came at
  3. came at a cost
  4. came away
  5. came away empty
  6. came back
  7. came back from the dead
  8. came back to bite
  9. came back to haunt
  10. came before
  11. came between

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: came back (page history and authors); come back (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 back.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/came_back. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.