English · Idiom Candidate

how come

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Used to ask for an explanation or reason

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

dùng để hỏi về lời giải thích hoặc lý do

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

How come you're late?

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “how come” mean?

Used to ask for an explanation or reason

Is “how come” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

👁 Views 0 today 0 past 7 days 0 this month 0 all time