Definition of "come close" [come close]

• Nearly do something (verb)
• Be close or similar (verb)

WordNet. Princeton University. 2010.

• "They had come close in 1977, finishing just 21/2 games behind New York, tying with the Orioles for second place in the American League East."
• "“It is virtually impossible to distinguish between a liberal Christian or Jew and a liberal secularist,” says Prager, who notes that all three “regard the human fetus as morally worthless; regard the man-woman definition of marriage as a form of bigotry; and come close to holding pacifist beliefs, to cite but a few examples.”"
• "While average Japanese performance is very impressive, a few Japanese companies seem to have been inspired more by Henry Ford than Taiichi Ohno, while a few companies in the West—ironically, the Ford Motor Company is the best example—have greatly modified their factories and come close to leanness in the 1980s."