Definition

1. Verb:
   • To enter a place: To move from an outside area into an inside or enclosed space.
   • To be received or become available: To arrive or be delivered, often referring to information, news, or items.
   • To take a position in a competition or ranking: To finish a race or contest in a particular place.
   • To become fashionable or seasonally appropriate: To start being in style or to begin being relevant for a particular time of year.
   • To play a role or function: To have a part or purpose in a situation.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Please knock before you come in. (To enter a place.)
  • The first reports from the disaster zone are starting to come in. (To be received.)
  • My horse came in first in the last race! (To take a position in a competition.)
  • Long skirts are expected to come in again this fall. (To become fashionable.)
  • This is where your expertise comes in; we need your advice. (To play a role.)

Advanced Usage

• "to come in for criticism/praise": To receive criticism or praise.
  • The government's policy has come in for severe criticism.
• "to come in handy/useful": To prove to be useful or convenient.
  • Keep that tool; it might come in handy one day.
• "to come in from the cold": To gain acceptance or shelter after being excluded or in a difficult situation.
  • After years of isolation, the nation finally came in from the cold.

Variants and Related Words

• Income (n): Money received, especially on a regular basis, for work or investments.
• Incoming (adj): Arriving or coming in.
  • Incoming mail.
• Newcomer (n): A person who has recently arrived in a place or started an activity.

Synonyms

• Enter: To go or come into a place.
• Arrive: To reach a destination.
• Finish: To end a race or contest in a particular position.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Come in on: To become involved in something, such as a plan or discussion.
  • Would you like to come in on this project with us?
• Come into: To inherit something (e.g., money, property) or to begin to be in a particular state.
  • She came into a large fortune.
  • The new law will come into effect next month.

Related Idioms

• Come in out of the rain: To seek shelter; to act sensibly to avoid trouble or discomfort.
  • He finally decided to come in out of the rain and accept the reasonable offer.
• Have it coming (to you): To deserve something bad that happens.
  • After all his lies, he had his punishment coming.

Verb

1. take a place in a competition; often followed by an ordinal
   • Jerry came in third in the Marathon
2. to insert between other elements
   • She interjected clever remarks
3. come into fashion; become fashionable
4. be received
   • News came in of the massacre in Rwanda
5. to come or go into
   • the boat entered an area of shallow marshes