afoul of
IdiomsExample Sentences
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But Rossetti’s comments ran afoul of his boss, the Catholic archbishop of Washington, D.C., who announced Wednesday he had “removed” Rossetti from his position as an exorcist.
From Slate • Jun. 8, 2026
Whatever work your business hires your child to do, make sure it does not run afoul of any federal or local labor laws.
From MarketWatch • May 26, 2026
Stilwell, who refrains from sharing his first name, operates on Catalina Island, a dumping ground for officers who’ve either botched cases or run afoul of their superiors.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
This judge had complete command of her courtroom and had no qualms about lambasting anyone who ran afoul of the rules.
From BBC • May 15, 2026
Surely, Keith, the genius, the man who never ran afoul of anything, couldn’t possibly have been the passenger in a fatal wreck.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.