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

This is the very problem Robin Clough has run into.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026

And someone who participates in a clinical trial could run into interstate restrictions.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026

If companies do not do this they can be fined up to 10% of their global revenues, which in the case of Google could run into many billions of pounds.

From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026

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

Mrs. Mary Redfield hadn’t known the family long; but she’d run into the girls on the main road a few days back.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock

Related Words

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