come into one's own

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come into one's own (third-person singular simple present comes into one's own, present participle coming into one's own, simple past came into one's own, past participle come into one's own)

1. (idiomatic) To reach a stage of development or maturity where one has achieved strength and confidence, economic security, or respect and social acceptance.
   • 1903, Jack London, chapter 2, in Call of the Wild:

     And not only did he learn by experience, but instincts long dead became alive again. The domesticated generations fell from him. . . . [T]he old tricks . . . came to him without effort or discovery, as though they had been his always. . . . [T]he ancient song surged through him and he came into his own again.

   • 1913, Gene Stratton-Porter, chapter 7, in Laddie: A True Blue Story:

     Sally just swept along smiling at every one. . . . Sally looked just as if she had come into her own and was made for it; I never did see her look so pretty.

   • 1916, D. H. Lawrence, chapter 5, in Twilight in Italy:

     The eyes of the wood-cutter flash like actual possession. He seems now to have come into his own. With all his senses, he is dominant, sure.

   • 1919, Upton Sinclair, chapter 12, in Jimmie Higgins:

     Everywhere the people would come into their own, and war and tyranny would vanish like a hateful nightmare! Speaker after speaker got up to proclaim this glorious future.

   • 1992, Popular Mechanics, volume 169, number 11, page 18:

     Aerial photography was coming into its own, and flying shutterbugs pushed the envelope, striving to outsnap each other.

   • 2010 November 26, Gemlyn Geroge, “Healthcare in Asia: A Roadmap for the Next Decade”, in Time:

     The subsequent decade played host to numerous stories of Asian nations coming into their own with robustly growing economies.