run-in
/ˈɹʌnˌɪn/
run-in noun: an encounter; a scrape or brush, especially one involving trouble or difficulty.
Noun
run-in (plural run-ins)
- An encounter; a scrape or brush, especially one involving trouble or difficulty.
- During that time he had two more run-ins with the law. One involved the sale of stolen property. The other was for a series of hot checks.2004, Pamela Morsi, Suburban Renewal, page 95
- The end-phase of a competition etc.
- Yahoo Sport's Leicester City blogger Helen Nutter gets ready for the Premier League run-in knowing her side - incredibly - still have a great chance of being crowned champions
- But despite its plague of tunnels, the run-in on this route is of unusual interest to the locomotive enthusiast: besides the hordes of self-important saddle-tanks shunting in the extensive yards, there was at one time the chance of seeing those slender little North London engines, with their large...1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in Railway Magazine, page 704
- A sudden compression between two coupled railcars when the hinder one is moving faster than the fore one.
- Brake pipe pressure reduction rates of over 30 psi/sec lasting for about 15 milliseconds were created by harsh slack run-ins.1990, F. G. Carlson, Undesired Emergency Brake Applications, Association of American Railroad Research and Test Department
- Researchers noted no unusual events (e.g., knuckle breaks) or notable instances of significant slack action or run-ins/run-outs at the lead locomotive during the test.2024, Srini Swamy, Graydon F. Booth, Anand Prabhakaran, Very Long Trains: Moving Train Tests, Federal Railroad Administration
Adjective
run-in (not generally comparable, comparative more run-in, superlative most run-in)
- (not comparable) Having been run in before or behind previous text.
- These headings are of the run-in type because a free-hanging style would just be a waste of column inches.
- Antonyms:
- free-hanging
- (sometimes comparable) Having been run in to seat the parts.
- A well run-in engine is likelier to consume less crankcase oil over the course of its working life.
- Synonyms:
- broken in
run-in meaning in Tamil
run-in in Tamil
- இலக்கெடுப்பு
Synonyms of run-in
Antonyms
Forms of run-in
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | run-ins |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more run-in |
| superlative | most run-in |
Origin of run-in
Derived from the verb run into. For the meaning "end-phase", it presumably comes a marathon race, where in the final part the runners run into the stadium and complete a lap.
Derived from the verb run in.
Questions about run-in
- What does run-in mean?
- Run-in means an encounter; a scrape or brush, especially one involving trouble or difficulty.
- What is run-in in Tamil?
- Run-in in Tamil is இலக்கெடுப்பு. See Run-in meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is run-in?
- Run-in can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce run-in?
- Run-in is pronounced /ˈɹʌnˌɪn/.
- What is the plural of run-in?
- The plural of run-in is run-ins.
Words near run-in in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: run-in (page history and authors); run-in (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-run-in.ogg.
Cite this entry: “run-in.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/run-in. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.