come upon

verb

To discover or find, especially by chance or accident.

“I pray no harm will come upon you.”

Meanings

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

present singular third person comes upon · participle present coming upon · past came upon

  1. To discover or find, especially by chance or accident.

    We came upon the skeleton while we were hiking.

    1 more example

    Kala sometimes talked with the older females about her young hopeful, but none of them could understand how a child could be so slow and backward in learning to care for itself. Why, it could not even find food alone, and more than twelve moons had passed since Kala had come upon it.

    1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as chapter 5, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, June 1914, →OCLC

    Synonyms: come across, encounter, run across, stumble upon

  2. To befall; to affect; to happen to.

    I pray no harm will come upon you.

Synonyms & antonyms

verbTo discover or find, especially by chance or accident.

More synonyms by meaning

verbtake possession of

Similar
enter uponluck into
Broader

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 偶遇
  • 偶遇 (ǒuyù)to come across; to discover
Irish tar ar
  • tar arto come across; to discover
Italian imbattersi
  • imbattersito come across; to discover
Latin inveniō
  • inveniōto come across; to discover
Norwegian komme over
  • komme overto come across; to discover
Polish natrafiać, natrafić
  • natrafiaćto come across; to discover
  • natrafićto come across; to discover
  • natykać sięto come across; to discover
  • natknąć sięto come across; to discover
  • napotykaćto come across; to discover
  • napotkaćto come across; to discover
  • wpadaćto come across; to discover
  • wpaśćto come across; to discover
  • przydarzać sięto befall; to affect
  • przydarzyć sięto befall; to affect
  • zdarzać sięto befall; to affect
  • zdarzyć sięto befall; to affect
Russian натыка́ться, наткну́ться
  • натыка́ться (natykátʹsja)to come across; to discover
  • наткну́ться (natknútʹsja)to come across; to discover
  • настига́ть (nastigátʹ)to befall; to affect
  • насти́гнуть (nastígnutʹ)to befall; to affect
Swedish finna, komma över
  • finnato come across; to discover
  • komma överto come across; to discover
Cite this entry
APA

come upon. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/come%20upon

MLA

“come upon.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/come%20upon. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “come upon,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/come%20upon.

Source: come upon on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.