run into

British  

verb

1. (also tr) to collide with or cause to collide with

   her car ran into a tree

2. to encounter unexpectedly

3. (also tr) to be beset by or cause to be beset by

   the project ran into financial difficulties

4. to extend to; be of the order of

   debts running into thousands

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run into Idioms  

1. Meet or find by chance, as in I ran into an old friend at the concert . [c. 1900]

2. See run against , def. 1.

3. Collide with, as in The car ran straight into the retaining wall . [c. 1800]

4. Incur, as in We've run into extra expenses with the renovation , or James said they've run into debt . [c. 1400]

5. Mount up, increase to, as in Her book may well run into a second volume .

6. 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 .

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

run into

And even, to some degree, with the bureaucratic stonewalling they run into constantly, and the seemingly blasé attitude of state officialdom about destroying records on cold cases, or just responding to phone calls.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026

They are, however, beatable and will run into serial winners and European champions Spain in the semi-final if they both come through their quarter-finals.

From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026

Those costs easily could run into the millions.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026

Emmys is a fun night where you can run into your favorite actors by your seat or in the lobby, if not on the red carpet.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026

And if a plane really was going to run into the building, wouldn’t Sky Trails want its employees to warn people, to get them out of the way?

From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Related Words

• allow
• challenge
• confront
• encounter
• endure
• experience
• fight
• meet
• oppose
• risk
• suffer
• take