come-from-behind
UK[ˌkʌm frəm bɪˈhaɪnd]US[ˌkʌm frəm bɪˈhaɪnd]
adj
Describing a victory or success achieved after being in a losing position.
Etymology
The term is a modern American English compound, first recorded in the mid-20th century within the context of sports journalism. It is formed by directly converting the descriptive verbal phrase "to come from behind" into a fixed, hyphenated adjective. The logic is entirely literal and spatial: "come" implies movement toward a goal, "from behind" specifies a starting position of trailing or lagging. This concrete imagery of overtaking from a rear position was seamlessly applied to abstract competitive situations, such as elections or business, to describe a dramatic reversal of fortune. Its construction follows the productive English pattern of creating compound adjectives from well-established phrasal verbs.
Analysis
This is a hyphenated compound adjective formed from the phrasal verb "come from behind". It is not segmentable into smaller, independent morphemes based on the current English spelling. Its components are the verb "come", the preposition "from", and the adverb/preposition "behind", each of Old English origin.
Examples
The team celebrated a thrilling come-from-behind victory in the final minutes of the game.
The candidate's come-from-behind win in the primary surprised many political analysts.
It was a classic come-from-behind story, as the startup overcame early failures to become an industry leader.