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come to

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phrasal verb
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present tense
I/you/we/theycome to
he/she/itcomes to
present participlecoming to
past tensecame to
past participlecome to
 
  1. 1
    [transitive] come to someone if something comes to you, you think of it or remember it

    The idea came to me while we were on vacation.

    Her name will come to me in a minute.

    it comes to someone that:

    It came to her that it was foolish to expect him to help.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  come toThesaurus entry for this meaning of come to
  2. 2
    [transitive] come to something to reach a particular total when everything is added together

    With salaries and overtime the bill came to $752,000.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  come toThesaurus entry for this meaning of come to
  3. 3
    [transitive] come to something same as come on to (sense 2)

    I’ll come on to some of the effects of this policy in a moment.

  4. 4
    [transitive] come to something to reach a particular state or point, especially one that is bad or unpleasant

    If it comes to war, NATO forces will be stronger in the air.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  come toThesaurus entry for this meaning of come to
    1. a.
      used for emphasizing how bad a situation is and how shocked or upset you are about it
      something has come to this:

      So, has our relationship come to this? Two people with nothing to say to each other.

      what something is coming to:

      You wonder what the world is coming to when young children are dying of hunger.

      Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  come toThesaurus entry for this meaning of come to
  6. 6
    [transitive] come to something to finally achieve a particular level of success
    come to nothing/something/not much etc.:

    His teachers all agreed that he wouldn’t come to anything much.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  come toThesaurus entry for this meaning of come to
  7. 7
    when it comes to (doing) something when the subject being discussed is a particular thing

    When it comes to vacations, I prefer the beach to the mountains.

    When it comes to writing letters, she’s hopeless.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  come toThesaurus entry for this meaning of come to

This is the American English definition of come to. View British English definition of come to.

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