29 PHRASE You can use expressions like I know where you're coming from or you can see where she's coming from to say that you understand someone's attitude or point of view. □ To understand why they are doing it, it is necessary to know where they are coming from.
▸ come about PHRASAL VERB When you say how or when something came about , you say how or when it happened. □ [V P + through ] Any possible solution can only come about through dialogue. □ [V P ] That came about when we went to Glastonbury last year. □ [V P that] It came about that he combined his businesses.
▸ come across
1 PHRASAL VERB If you come across something or someone, you find them or meet them by chance. □ [V P n] I came across a group of children playing.
2 PHRASAL VERB If someone or what they are saying comes across in a particular way, they make that impression on people who meet them or are listening to them. □ [V P + as ] When sober he can come across as an extremely pleasant and charming young man. □ [V P adv] He came across very, very well.
▸ come along
1 PHRASAL VERB You tell someone to come along to encourage them in a friendly way to do something, especially to attend something. □ [V P ] There's a big press launch today and you're most welcome to come along.
2 CONVENTION You say 'come along' to someone to encourage them to hurry up, usually when you are rather annoyed with them. □ [V P ] Come along, Osmond. No sense in your standing around.
3 PHRASAL VERB When something or someone comes along , they occur or arrive by chance. □ [V P ] I waited a long time until a script came along that I thought was genuinely funny. □ [V P ] It was lucky you came along.
4 PHRASAL VERB If something is coming along , it is developing or making progress. □ [V P adv] Pentagon spokesman Williams says those talks are coming along quite well. □ [V P ] How's Ferguson coming along?
▸ come around in BRIT, also use come round 1 PHRASAL VERB If someone comes around or comes round to your house, they call there to see you. □ [V P ] Beryl came round this morning to apologize. □ [V P + to ] Quite a lot of people came round to the house.
2 PHRASAL VERB If you come around or come round to an idea, you eventually change your mind and accept it or agree with it. □ [V P + to ] It looks like they're coming around to our way of thinking. □ [V P ] She will eventually come round.
3 PHRASAL VERB When something comes around or comes round , it happens as a regular or predictable event. □ [V P ] I hope still to be in the side when the World Cup comes around next year.
4 PHRASAL VERB When someone who is unconscious comes around or comes round , they recover consciousness. □ [V P ] When I came round I was on the kitchen floor.
▸ come at PHRASAL VERB If a person or animal comes at you, they move towards you in a threatening way and try to attack you. □ [V P n + with ] He told police the man had come at him with a knife. [Also V P n]
▸ come back
1 PHRASAL VERB If something that you had forgotten comes back to you, you remember it. □ [V P + to ] I'll think of his name in a moment when it comes back to me. □ [V P ] When I thought about it, it all came back.
2 PHRASAL VERB When something comes back , it becomes fashionable again. □ [V P ] I'm glad hats are coming back.
3 → see also comeback
▸ come back to PHRASAL VERB If you come back to a topic or point, you talk about it again later. □ [V P P n] 'What does that mean please?'—'I'm coming back to that. Just write it down for the minute.'
▸ come between PHRASAL VERB [no passive] If someone or something comes between two people, or comes between a person and a thing, they make the relationship or connection between them less close or happy. □ [V P n] It's difficult to imagine anything coming between them.
▸ come by PHRASAL VERB To come by something means to obtain it or find it. □ [V P n] How did you come by that cheque?
▸ come down
1 PHRASAL VERB If the cost, level, or amount of something comes down , it becomes less than it was before. □ [V P ] Interest rates should come down. □ [V P + to/from ] If you buy three bottles, the bottle price comes down to £2.42. □ [V P + by ] The price of petrol is coming down by four pence a gallon.
2 PHRASAL VERB If something comes down , it falls to the ground. □ [V P ] The cold rain came down.
▸ come down on
1 PHRASAL VERB If you come down on one side of an argument, you declare that you support that side. □ [V P P n] After much quibbling, the judges came down on the side of Thornton.
2 PHRASAL VERB If you come down on someone, you punish or criticize them severely. □ [V P P n] Referees will come down hard on such cheating.
▸ come down to PHRASAL VERB If a problem, decision, or question comes down to a particular thing, that thing is the most important factor involved. □ [V P P n] Walter Crowley says the problem comes down to money. □ [V P P n] I think that it comes down to the fact that people do feel very dependent on their automobile. □ [V P P n] What it comes down to is, there are bad people out there, and somebody has to deal with them.