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Synonyms

bump into

British  

verb

  1. informal (intr, preposition) to meet by chance; encounter unexpectedly

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
bump into Idioms  

  1. Also, bump against . Collide, come in contact with; same as bang into . For example, It's easy to bump into furniture in the dark . [Mid-1800s]

  2. Encounter, meet by chance, as in While I was downtown, I bumped into George . [ Colloquial ; 1880s] Also see run into .

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Slamming the door behind him, he bumped into a metal rack, spilling several white rectangles onto the floor.

From Literature

As panic set in I bumped into something—a submerged tree!

From Literature

“What are you going to do if you bump into an ICE agent who is not having a good day and decides to profile you?” her parents ask her.

From Salon

The aisles are so narrow only the workers can weave through them, moving fast and rarely bumping into each other.

From BBC

"That is quite intriguing to people because what you tend to find when you bump into famous people in the Cotswolds is they're very much on their best behaviour," Llewelyn-Bowen whispered.

From BBC

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.