COME ACROSS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does come across mean? 

• COME ACROSS (verb)
  The verb COME ACROSS has 5 senses:

1. find unexpectedly

2. be perceived in a certain way; make a certain impression

3. come together

4. communicate the intended meaning or impression

5. be received or understood

  Familiarity information: COME ACROSS used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COME ACROSS (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Find unexpectedly

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

attain; chance on; chance upon; come across; come upon; discover; fall upon; happen upon; light upon; strike

Context example:

The hikers finally struck the main path to the lake

Hypernyms (to "come across" is one way to...):

find; regain (come upon after searching; find the location of something that was missed or lost)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Be perceived in a certain way; make a certain impression

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "come across" is one way to...):

appear; look; seem (give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect)

Sentence frames:

Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

John will come across angry

Sense 3

Meaning:

Come together

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

come across; encounter; meet; run across; run into; see

Context example:

How nice to see you again!

Verb group:

assemble; foregather; forgather; gather; meet (collect in one place)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "come across"):

cross; intersect (meet at a point)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Communicate the intended meaning or impression

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

come across; come over

Context example:

He came across very clearly

Hypernyms (to "come across" is one way to...):

communicate; intercommunicate (transmit thoughts or feelings)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Sense 5

Meaning:

Be received or understood

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

come across; resonate

Cause:

understand (know and comprehend the nature or meaning of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "come across"):

strike a chord (create an emotional response)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s Adjective

 Context examples 

“Did you ever come across a protégé of his—one Hyde?” he asked.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The many laughs we have had together would infallibly come across me, and Frederick and his knapsack would be obliged to run away.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

You will come across confident, energetic, and passionate about your work, and your good energy will attract more good energy from others.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

It's a mort of water, said Mr. Peggotty, fur to come across, and on'y stay a matter of fower weeks.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I was following the others, when I found that Lord John and Challenger had come across to join us.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“The young ’un will make his way,” said Belcher, who had come across to us.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You had better go with Jack and the Professor and stay in the Green Park, somewhere in sight of the house; and when you see the door opened and the smith has gone away, do you all come across.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

A something of languid indifference, or of that boasted absence of mind which Catherine had never heard of before, would occasionally come across her; but had nothing worse appeared, that might only have spread a new grace and inspired a warmer interest.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

It is clear that some time has elapsed since this Harold established these relations with the girl—some weeks, at any rate—since the brother in Greece has had time to hear of it and come across.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Why, my little coz, said he, I have come across to tell you that I live above the barber's in the Rue de la Tour, and that there is a venison pasty in the oven and two flasks of the right vintage on the table.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)