Word.ws English Dictionary

run its course

run its course verb: to come to a natural end.

Verb

run its course (third-person singular simple present runs its course, present participle running its course, simple past ran its course, past participle run its course)

  1. To come to a natural end.
    Synonyms:
    take its course

Synonyms of run its course

Forms of run its course

third-person singular presentruns its course
present participlerunning its course
pastran its course
past participlerun its course

Questions about run its course

What does run its course mean?
Run its course means to come to a natural end.
What part of speech is run its course?
Run its course is a verb.
What is the past tense of run its course?
The past tense of run its course is ran its course.

Words near run its course in the dictionary

  1. run into a brick wall
  2. run into one
  3. run into the ground
  4. run it up
  5. run it up the flagpole, to see who salutes
  6. run its course
  7. run late
  8. run like a dry creek
  9. run like a top
  10. run lines
  11. run low

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: run its course (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-run its course.ogg.

Cite this entry: “run its course.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/run_its_course. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.