19 Phrasal Verbs with Run: Meanings and Examples

Phrasal verbs with run are very common in English, and they can help you sound much more natural in both speaking and writing. In this lesson, you will learn 19 useful phrasal verbs with run, their meanings, and example sentences to help you use them confidently.

If we tried to cover every expression with run in one lesson, we would be here until next Tuesday. So in this post, we are focusing on something much more manageable and useful: phrasal verbs with run.

Below, you will learn 19 phrasal verbs with run, along with clear meanings and natural example sentences to help you remember them and use them confidently.

1. Run across

Meaning: to find something or meet someone by chance

• I was walking through town when I ran across an old friend from school.
• While clearing out the attic, I ran across some letters my grandmother had written years ago.

2. Run after

Meaning: to chase someone or something; sometimes, to pursue someone romantically

• She ran after the bus, but it pulled away before she reached it.
• He spent years running after women who were clearly not interested in him.

3. Run along

Meaning: to go away; to leave; sometimes used to tell someone to leave

• It’s getting late, so I’d better run along now.
• Run along, children — the adults are talking.

4. Run around

Meaning: to be very busy doing many things; to rush from place to place

• I’ve been running around all day and still haven’t finished everything.
• She spent the whole morning running around the city doing errands.

5. Run at

Meaning: to move towards someone in an aggressive or threatening way

• The dog suddenly ran at me, and I froze.
• One of the protesters ran at the police officer shouting angrily.

6. Run away

Meaning: to escape; to leave a place secretly or suddenly

• Their teenage son ran away from home after an argument.
• She was so embarrassed that she wanted to run away and hide.

7. Run back

Meaning: to return quickly to a place; also, to play part of a recording again

• I had forgotten my phone, so I ran back to the office.
• Could you run that bit back? I didn’t catch what he said.

8. Run down

Meaning 1: to hit someone or something with a vehicle

Meaning 2: to criticise someone unfairly or repeatedly

• A careless driver nearly ran down a cyclist near the crossing.
• He’s always running down his colleagues instead of encouraging them.

9. Run into

Meaning 1: to meet someone by chance

Meaning 2: to crash into someone or something

Meaning 3: to experience problems

• I ran into my dentist at the supermarket yesterday.
• The car skidded on the ice and ran into a fence.
• We ran into a few difficulties during the project.

10. Run off

Meaning 1: to leave suddenly, often taking something or leaving someone behind

Meaning 2: to print copies quickly

• He ran off with all the money and never came back.
• Could you run off twenty copies of this worksheet before the lesson?

11. Run on

Meaning: to continue for longer than expected

• I hope the meeting doesn’t run on, because I have another appointment at three.
• Her speech ran on far too long and the audience started to lose interest.

12. Run out

Meaning: to use all of something; to have none left

• We’ve run out of milk, so I need to pop to the shop.
• They ran out of money halfway through their holiday.

13. Run out on

Meaning: to abandon someone, especially a partner or family member

• He ran out on his wife and children without a word.
• She never forgave her father for running out on the family.

14. Run over

Meaning 1: to knock someone down with a vehicle and drive over them

Meaning 2: to go beyond the planned time, cost, or limit

Meaning 3: to review something quickly

• The poor animal was run over on a dark country road.
• The meeting ran over by half an hour.
• Let’s run over the main points again before the exam.

15. Run through

Meaning 1: to go through something quickly

Meaning 2: to practise or rehearse something

• Let me run through the instructions one more time.
• The musicians ran through the piece before the audience arrived.

16. Run to

Meaning 1: to go to someone for help, support, or protection

Meaning 2: to reach a certain amount

• Whenever he has a problem, he runs to his older sister.
• Repairs on an old car can easily run to several hundred pounds.

17. Run up

Meaning 1: to accumulate something, especially a bill or debt

Meaning 2: to make something quickly, especially clothes

• He ran up a huge credit-card bill during the summer.
• My grandmother could run up a dress in a single afternoon.

18. Run up against

Meaning: to face or encounter difficulties, opposition, or problems

• We ran up against a few technical issues at the start of the course.
• Small businesses often run up against unnecessary bureaucracy.

19. Run with

Meaning 1: to take an idea and develop it

Meaning 2: to accept a situation and continue with it

• The editor loved my suggestion and told me to run with it.
• The weather was awful, but we decided to run with it and enjoy the day anyway.

Final thoughts

As you can see, run appears in a surprising number of phrasal verbs, and the meanings can change quite a bit depending on the particle that follows it. Some are very common in everyday conversation, such as run into, run out, and run across, while others are especially useful in storytelling and descriptive writing.

The best way to learn these expressions is not to memorise them like a telephone directory from 1987, but to notice them in context, write your own example sentences, and return to them regularly.

If you do that, these phrasal verbs will soon start to feel much more natural.