come about

verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"come-about" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“come about” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a verb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
10
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To come to pass; to develop; to occur; to take place; to happen; to exist.

Key facts for come about
PropertyValue
Headwordcome about
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters10
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “come about” sits in English frequency

come about falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for come about is 10 letters long, classified as a verb. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for come about, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is come about, spelled C-O-M-E- -A-B-O-U-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    To come to pass; to develop; to occur; to take place; to happen; to exist.
  2. 2
    To tack; to change tack; to maneuver the bow of a sailing vessel across the wind so that the wind changes from one side of the vessel to the other; to position a boat with respect to the wind after tacking. See also come to.
  3. 3
    To change; to come round.

Synonyms

come to passcome to beoccurtranspire

This word in other languages

ocurrir(Español)se passer(Français)geschehen(Deutsch)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "come about"?
"come about" is spelled C-O-M-E- -A-B-O-U-T.
What does "come about" mean?
As a verb, "come about" means: To come to pass; to develop; to occur; to take place; to happen; to exist.
What language does "come about" come from?
"come about" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “come about”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is C-O-M-E- -A-B-O-U-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list