Word.ws English Dictionary

come up trumps

come up trumps is the alternative form of turn up trumps.

Meaning of turn up trumps

Verb

turn up trumps (third-person singular simple present turns up trumps, present participle turning up trumps, simple past and past participle turned up trumps)

  1. (idiomatic) To end up being successful when doing so was uncertain or unlikely.
    • So nearly all her investment turned up trumps, and Edward was really in fit case to reopen Branshaw Manor and once more to assume his position in the county.1915, Ford Madox Hueffer [i.e., Ford Madox Ford], chapter V, in The Good Soldier […], Harmondsworth, Middlesex [London]: Penguin Books, published 1972 (1982 printing), →ISBN, part I, page 62

Forms of come up trumps

third-person singular presentcomes up trumps
present participlecoming up trumps
pastcame up trumps
past participlecome up trumps

Questions about come up trumps

What is come up trumps the alternative form of?
Come up trumps is the alternative form of turn up trumps.

Words near come up trumps in the dictionary

  1. come up short
  2. come up smelling like a rose
  3. come up smelling of roses
  4. come up snake eyes
  5. come up to
  6. come up trumps
  7. come up with
  8. come up with snake eyes
  9. come up with the goods
  10. come up with the rations
  11. come upon

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: come up trumps (page history and authors); turn up trumps (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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