run into
Britishverb
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(also tr) to collide with or cause to collide with
her car ran into a tree
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to encounter unexpectedly
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(also tr) to be beset by or cause to be beset by
the project ran into financial difficulties
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to extend to; be of the order of
debts running into thousands
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Meet or find by chance, as in I ran into an old friend at the concert . [c. 1900]
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See run against , def. 1.
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Collide with, as in The car ran straight into the retaining wall . [c. 1800]
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Incur, as in We've run into extra expenses with the renovation , or James said they've run into debt . [c. 1400]
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Mount up, increase to, as in Her book may well run into a second volume .
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Follow without interruption, as in What with one day running into the next, we never knew just what day it was! or He spoke so fast his words ran into one another . [Late 1600s] Also see run into a stone wall ; run into the ground .
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.
The 99-yard return looked like it might turn the tide for the Trojans, until, on the next drive, Rutgers busted a 49-yard run into the red zone.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
But as usual, he can’t help but break through the fence and run into traffic.
From Salon ● Sep. 18, 2026
And emergency vet bills can run into the thousands of dollars, according to Jennifer Quammen, president of the AVMA.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026
Letting a for-profit company manage the toll road made so much fiscal sense to Mr. Daniels that he was surprised to run into resistance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
So into this night, in my ignorance, we started to run; into what I thought would be a three-or four-hour easy run we started.
From "Woodsong" by Gary Paulsen
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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.