come close
idiom
1
: to almost do something
We didn't win, but we came close.
—often + toThe band came very close to breaking up.
We came close to winning the championship this season.
2
: to be similar to something or as good as expected
She said they taste just like real hot dogs, but they don't even come close (to the real thing).
Examples of come close in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The 706 people that showed up didn’t even come close to the 2,325 Ivans that got together in Bosnia in 2017 to set the Guinness World Record.
—
Morgan Haefner, Quartz, 21 May 2024
Horizon doesn’t come close to the unsparing emotional toughness of many of the 1950s Westerns by the likes of John Ford, Anthony Mann, and Budd Boetticher, or, for that matter, the later works of their Italian spiritual brethren, the double Sergios Leone and Corbucci.
—Stephanie Zacharek, TIME, 21 May 2024
Heck of a third period, but the Avs for about 43 minutes didn’t come close to matching the intensity of the Stars.
—Sean Keeler, The Denver Post, 12 May 2024
For each death, there are 100 women who come close to dying, which is terrifying and unacceptable in the 21st century.
—Holly Maloney, Fortune, 10 May 2024
But perhaps even worse than this, the disconnect, however slight, that initial 50 milliseconds has on the driving experience is detectable by the brain, which is one of the main reasons why driving a racing sim, while certainly entertaining, normally doesn’t ever come close to the real thing.
—Jeremy White, WIRED, 9 May 2024
Since Mike Alden resigned in 2015 after 17 years on the job, the second-longest tenure for an athletic boss in school history, MU hasn’t come close to matching that stability.
—Blair Kerkhoff, Kansas City Star, 27 Apr. 2024
But the first season set the bar impossibly high for the second, and the new season can’t come close to clearing it.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 18 Apr. 2024
No total solar eclipse of recent memory has been as spectacular, astronomers say, and none in the next two decades will come close to recapturing its majesty.
—Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY, 10 Apr. 2024
Morgan Haefner, Quartz, 21 May 2024
Horizon doesn’t come close to the unsparing emotional toughness of many of the 1950s Westerns by the likes of John Ford, Anthony Mann, and Budd Boetticher, or, for that matter, the later works of their Italian spiritual brethren, the double Sergios Leone and Corbucci.
—Stephanie Zacharek, TIME, 21 May 2024
Heck of a third period, but the Avs for about 43 minutes didn’t come close to matching the intensity of the Stars.
—Sean Keeler, The Denver Post, 12 May 2024
For each death, there are 100 women who come close to dying, which is terrifying and unacceptable in the 21st century.
—Holly Maloney, Fortune, 10 May 2024
But perhaps even worse than this, the disconnect, however slight, that initial 50 milliseconds has on the driving experience is detectable by the brain, which is one of the main reasons why driving a racing sim, while certainly entertaining, normally doesn’t ever come close to the real thing.
—Jeremy White, WIRED, 9 May 2024
Since Mike Alden resigned in 2015 after 17 years on the job, the second-longest tenure for an athletic boss in school history, MU hasn’t come close to matching that stability.
—Blair Kerkhoff, Kansas City Star, 27 Apr. 2024
But the first season set the bar impossibly high for the second, and the new season can’t come close to clearing it.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 18 Apr. 2024
No total solar eclipse of recent memory has been as spectacular, astronomers say, and none in the next two decades will come close to recapturing its majesty.
—Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY, 10 Apr. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'come close.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Cite this Entry
“Come close.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/come%20close. Accessed 28 May. 2024.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share