run out

verb

ran out; run out; running out; runs out

intransitive verb

1

a

: to come to an end : expire

time ran out

b

: to become exhausted or used up

the gasoline ran out

2

: to jut out

transitive verb

1

a

: to finish out (a course, a series, a contest, etc.) : complete

b

of a baseball batter : to run hard to first base after hitting (a batted ball)

ran out the grounder

2

a

: to fill out (a typeset line) with quads, leaders, or ornaments

b

: to set (a line of text, such as the first line of a paragraph) with a hanging indention

3

: to exhaust (oneself) in running

4

: to cause to leave by force or coercion : expel

Phrases

run out of

: to use up the available supply of

ran out of time

run out on

: desert

Examples of run out in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Lessons have been learned from recent campaigns, where the squad has run out of steam come March. —Sam Leveridge, Forbes.com, 16 Aug. 2025

And with over 1,000 multinational businesses having exited from Russia, the Kremlin is running out of new cookie jars to raid to keep the lights on. —Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Time, 16 Aug. 2025

Is this just the last desperate tactic of a woman who has run out of rope with everyone on the show? —Brian Moylan, Vulture, 15 Aug. 2025

As the story unravels, frustrated parents discover that all the kids woke up and ran out of their homes at exactly 2:17 a.m. Weapons stars Josh Brolin as a concerned parent trying to uncover the truth and Julia Garner as the third-grade teacher whose students went missing. —Caroline Blair, People.com, 15 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1a

Rhymes for run out

• about
• bailout
• blackout
• blowout
• breakout
• burnout
• buyout
• checkout
• closeout
• cutout
• devout
• dropout

Kids Definition

run out

verb

1

: to come to an end : expire

time ran out before we could tie the game

2

: to become exhausted or used up

our supplies were running out