C
Idioms beginning with "C"
Part of speech, explanation, example sentences, pronunciation
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Contents of C:
[come at] {v.}
1. To approach; come to or against; advance toward.
The young boxer came at the champion cautiously.
2. To understand (a word or idea) or master (a skill); succeed with.
The sense of an unfamiliar word is hard to come at.
[come back] {v.}, {informal}
1. To reply; answer.
The lawyer came back sharply in defense of his client.
No matter how the audience heckled him, the comedian always had an answer to come back with.
2. To get a former place or position back, […]
[come back to earth] or [come down to earth] {v. phr.}
To return to the real world; stop imagining or dreaming; think and behave as usual.
After Jane met the movie star it was hard for her to come back to earth.
* /Bill was sitting and daydreaming […]
[come between] {v.}
To part; divide; separate.
John's mother-in-law came to live in his home, and as time passed she came between him and his wife.
Bill's hot rod came between him and his studies, and his grades went down.
[come by] {v.}
To get; obtain; acquire.
A good job like that is hard to come by.
Money easily come by is often easily spent.
How did she come by that money?
[come by honestly] {v. phr.}, {informal}
To inherit (a characteristic) from your parents.
Joe comes by his hot temper honestly; his father is the same way.
[come clean] {v. phr.}, {slang}
To tell all; tell the whole story; confess.
The boy suspected of stealing the watch came clean after long questioning.
[come down] {v.}
1. To reduce itself; amount to no more than. — Followed by "to".
The quarrel finally came down to a question of which boy would do the dishes.
Syn.: [BOIL DOWN] (3).
2. To be handed down or passed along, descend from parent to […]
[come down hard on] {v.}, {informal}
1. To scold or punish strongly.
The principal came down hard on the boys for breaking the window.
2. To oppose strongly.
The minister in his sermon came down hard on drinking.
[come down in the world] {v. phr.}
To lose a place of respect or honor, become lower (as in rank or fortune).
The stranger plainly had come down a long way in the world.
Compare: [DOWN ON ONE'S LUCK].