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

see also:

run out of run out on

Examples of run out in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Little kids rooting for France ran out of food lines with their parents. — Michael Butler, Miami Herald, 19 July 2026

In an interview on Bloomberg TV on Friday, Roubini was asked about ways to fix Social Security, as the trust fund that helps fund benefits is due to run out of money by 2032. — Jason Ma, Fortune, 18 July 2026

But by the end, his ability to sell all of that, and his time to create a winner out of it, had run out — just like the fans’, and possibly his own, patience. — Max Bultman, New York Times, 17 July 2026

With all these specimens pouring in, the research team quickly ran out of space. — Ari Daniel, NPR, 17 July 2026

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