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

The facility sometimes received more than a thousand patients a day, and frequently ran out of fuel and supplies. —Clayton Dalton, New Yorker, 18 Apr. 2025

Then there was Ravi (Anirudh Pisharody), who momentarily ran out of oxygen until Bobby came up with a creative fix. —Patrick Gomez, EW.com, 18 Apr. 2025

The girl was able to push him off of her and run out of the room. —Saleen Martin, USA Today, 18 Apr. 2025

But when the attempt to end his wife’s life failed, Pino ran out of moves. —Jay Weaver, Miami Herald, 16 Apr. 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