come up with

What it means

To think of an idea, plan, solution, or answer, usually after some thought. It's often used when the idea is creative, clever, or needed quickly.

Examples

• We need to come up with a better marketing strategy by Friday afternoon.
• She came up with a brilliant excuse for missing the meeting.
• How did you come up with such an unusual name for your daughter?
• The team came up with three possible solutions to the budget problem.

Where it comes from

Three-part inseparable phrasal verb. Originally 17th-century nautical, meaning to catch up with another ship; the 'invent or think of' meaning evolved in the 1900s.

Related phrasal verbs