Meaning
- Come down with means to begin to suffer from an illness, usually a minor one such as a cold or the flu. It is commonly used when someone starts showing symptoms of sickness.
Grammar and Usage
- Structure: subject + come down with + illness
- Part of speech: phrasal verb (intransitive)
- Often followed by names of common illnesses (e.g., cold, flu, fever, infection).
Examples of structure:
- "She came down with the flu."
- "I think I’m coming down with a cold."
Common Phrases
- come down with a cold
- come down with the flu
- come down with pneumonia
- come down with a fever
Collocations
- Verbs: suddenly come down with, unfortunately come down with
- Nouns: cold, flu, fever, infection, stomach bug
Examples
- She came down with a fever last night.
- I think I’m coming down with a cold, so I’ll stay home today.
- After the trip, several people came down with food poisoning.
- He came down with the flu just before the exam.
- Many workers came down with a stomach bug at the same time.
- I usually come down with a sore throat during winter.
- My brother came down with pneumonia and had to stay in the hospital.
- The children came down with chickenpox after the holiday.
Synonyms or Related
- get (a cold/flu)
- catch (a cold/flu)
- fall ill with
Antonym
- recover from
- get over
- fight off