crop up

verb

To occur, especially suddenly or unexpectedly.

“We'll finish tonight if no problems crop up.”

Similar
pop uppoppop outburst out
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Meanings

verbcrop up (third-person singular simple present crops up, present participle cropping up, simple past and past participle cropped up)

present singular third person crops up · participle present cropping up · participle past cropped up · past cropped up

  1. idiomaticintransitiveTo occur, especially suddenly or unexpectedly.

    We'll finish tonight if no problems crop up.

    2 more examples

    Cares crop up in villas.

    1880, [Benjamin Disraeli], Endymion […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC

    The potential for conflicts cropped up immediately. In April 2012, after her maternity leave and while she was waiting to get her S.G.E. designation, Teneo asked her to intercede on behalf of its client Judith Rodin, the president of the Rockefeller Foundation, in obtaining a seat on the President’s Global Development Council.

    2016 January 31, “Is Huma Abedin Hillary Clinton’s Secret Weapon or Her Next Big Problem?”, in Vanity Fair, retrieved 21 Jan 2016

Synonyms & antonyms

verbappear suddenly or unexpectedly; happen unexpectedly

Similar
pop uppoppop outburst out
Broader
appear
Also see
betideburst outeventuatego onhaphappenholdpasspoppop outpop upsprout uptranspire

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Translations

Catalan passar, esdevenir
  • passarto occur
  • esdevenirto occur
  • succeirto occur
  • ocórrerto occur
Chinese Mandarin 突然发生
  • 突然发生to occur
Dutch opduiken, verschijnen
  • opduikento occur
  • verschijnento occur
Finnish ilmaantua
  • ilmaantuato occur
German auftauchen
  • auftauchento occur
Greek ανακύπτω
  • ανακύπτω (anakýpto)to occur
Hungarian felbukkan, felmerül
  • felbukkanto occur
  • felmerülto occur
Italian saltare fuori
  • saltare fuorito occur
Polish pojawiać się, pojawić się
  • pojawiać sięto occur
  • pojawić sięto occur
  • przewijać sięto occur
  • przewinąć sięto occur
Portuguese haver
  • haverto occur
Russian неожи́данно обнаруживаться, возника́ть
  • неожи́данно обнаруживаться (neožídanno obnaruživatʹsja)to occur
  • возника́ть (voznikátʹ)to occur
Spanish presentar
  • presentarto occur
Swedish dyka upp
  • dyka uppto occur
Cite this entry
APA

crop up. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crop%20up

MLA

“crop up.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crop%20up. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “crop up,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crop%20up.

Source: crop up on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.