Phrasal verb
run out of sth
Definition
phrasal verb. to use all of something so that there is none left.
phrasal verb. to exhaust a supply of something; a transitive phrasal verb indicating the depletion of a resource.
Examples
“We have run out of milk.”
“I was halfway through the recipe when I realized I had run out of sugar.”
“The expedition was forced to turn back early after they realized they would soon run out of oxygen and fresh water.”
Examples
simple
“We have run out of milk.”
contextual
“I was halfway through the recipe when I realized I had run out of sugar.”
complex
“The expedition was forced to turn back early after they realized they would soon run out of oxygen and fresh water.”
Usage
always followed by the noun representing the resource that is finished.
Teaching tip
contrast with 'there is no more left' (state) versus 'run out of' (the action of finishing the supply); also note the intransitive version 'the milk ran out'.
Pitfall
We ran out the coffee.
We ran out of coffee.
the preposition 'of' is essential when naming the item that has finished.
Phrasal verb
Particles
out of
Separability
inseparable
Pattern
run + out + of + object
Synonyms
Antonyms
Grammar
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/run-out-of-sth