run afoul of

1. Also, run foul of. Come into conflict with, as in If you keep parking illegally you'll run afoul of the police. This expression originated in the late 1600s, when it was applied to a vessel colliding or becoming entangled with another vessel, but at the same time it was transferred to non-nautical usage. Both senses remain current.

Example Sentences

Nevertheless, Hall suggested that the graphics run afoul of a city law barring candidates from using city resources, since the cap-wearing corgi appears both on Mejia’s official city website and on his campaign yard signs.

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The Reagan had run afoul of nuclear power’s thorniest problem: radioactive isotopes.

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Attorneys representing UC have argued that its hiring policy is justified because offering jobs to undocumented students could run afoul of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, a federal law that bars the hiring of people without legal status.

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“The actions described in the article, if true, are despicable and run afoul of ethical duties of attorneys and criminal law in California,” Harrison wrote in a letter to Erika Doherty, the bar’s interim executive director.

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Increasingly, U.S. companies are worried that by obeying U.S. laws, they could run afoul of Chinese rules.

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