When you say how or when something came about, you say how or when it happened.
Any possible solution can only come about through dialogue. [VP + through]
That came about when we went to Glastonbury last year. [VERBPARTICLE]
It came about that he combined his businesses. [VERBPARTICLE that]
See full dictionary entry for come
come about in British English
verb(intr, adverb)
1.
to take place; happen
2. nautical
to change tacks
come about in American English
1.
to happen; occur
2.
to turn about
3. Nautical
to change course so that the sail or sails shift from one side of the vessel to the other, esp. to do so as by turning the bow into and across the wind; tack
See full dictionary entry for come
Examples of 'come about' in a sentence
come about
My songs come about in many different ways.
The Sun (2014)
The international scheme came about after taking feedback from players.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
There are added complications here that could come about where circumstances change.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
But it can come about in many forms.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
The other changes have come about because of injury.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
She was sure the change must come about slowly.
Frances Hodgson Burnett Emily Fox-Seton (1901)
Great changes came about in their lives and left him no one else to cling to.
Diana Wynne Jones CHARMED LIFE (1977)
What you think about comes about.
Pete Cohen and Sten Cummins with Jennai Cox HABIT BUSTING: A 10-step plan that will change your life (2002)
The negotiations come about a year after the companies last discussed a tie-up.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
Crunch time came about 12 years ago.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
It came about because the last election produced a result that gave no party the arithmetic to form a viable government without the other.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
The negligence has not just come about this season: it has been going on for three or four years.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
The phrase came about after workers said they were suffering anger at frustration at work, similar to that felt by motorists.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
My epiphany came about three years after I lost my sight.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
I promised them the chance to come about 20 years ago and so the time was now.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Which came about, he says, purely by accident.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
That's when the idea of the festival came about; it just naturally evolved.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Indeed, he doesn't say how it comes about at all.
Christianity Today (2000)
He sensed that his younger generation'wanted to know how those years came about'.