Meaning & use
come together
Last updated
Meanings
phrasephrasal verb
To gather in one place or join as a group, especially to work for a shared aim.
Grammar: No object; often followed by to or for: come together to help.
Patterns
- come together to do something
- come together as something
- come together for something
Neighbors came together to clean up after the flood.
The team came together in the final quarter.
Families come together at the holidays.
phrasephrasal verbinformal
To succeed in fitting parts into a good whole, so that a plan or project finally works.
Grammar: No object, and the subject is usually a plan, project, or event: the show came together.
Patterns
- something comes together
After weeks of rehearsal, the play finally came together.
The details of the deal are coming together nicely.
His ideas didn't come together until the last chapter.
phrasephrasal verb
To meet or join at a point, used of lines, roads, or streams.
Grammar: No object; describes physical meeting: the rivers come together here.
Patterns
- come together at something
The two rivers come together at the old mill.
The lines come together at a single point on the horizon.
Word forms
| third person singular | comes together |
|---|---|
| past tense | came together |
| past participle | come together |
| -ing form | coming together |
Common combinations
- come together as a team
- The staff came together as a team during the crisis.
- come together as a community
- The town came together as a community after the fire.
- finally come together
- The project finally came together this week.
- come together to
- Volunteers came together to rebuild the park.
- everything comes together
- At the end of the movie, everything comes together.
Synonyms and how they differ
- unite
- Unite is more formal and stresses becoming one body with a single purpose, whereas come together is gentler and can be temporary.
- gather
- Gather only means to meet in one place, but come together often includes shared effort or feeling.
- join forces
- Join forces means to work jointly toward a goal, and is stronger on practical cooperation than come together.
- coalesce
- Coalesce is formal and used for separate things merging into one, such as ideas, rather than people.
Opposites
Word family
- togetherness noun
- a feeling of closeness and unity
- get-together noun
- an informal social gathering
- together adverb
- with each other
Commonly confused: come together or come along?
come together vs come along
Come along means to accompany someone or to make progress, but come together means to join or to fit as a whole.
Practice
After months of arguments, the two departments finally ___ to finish the project on time.
Choose one answer.
Came together means joined forces. Came around means changed your mind or visited, and came off means succeeded or detached, so none fits cooperating.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “come together”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.