Phrasal Verb

Meaning

Example Sentence

read into

To assign a meaning to someone’s words that they just don’t have.

You are reading too much into her remarks; she probably didn’t mean it.

read out

To read aloud.

He read out a list of names of those who died in the disaster.

read through/over

To read from beginning to end.

I read through the passage for him and discovered some mistakes.

read up

To find out information by reading.

Let’s read up on the plumbing in the manual before we do anything.

reason with

To urge or persuade by giving good reasons.

I tried for days to reason with her but she wouldn’t listen.

reckon in

To include something in a calculation.

If you reckon in the prohibitive cost of repairs, it seems worthwhile to buy a new one.

reckon on

To expect.

We didn’t reckon on hiring more staff.

reckon with

To have someone powerful or something difficult to deal with.

He made a report against them, and now they have the police to reckon with.

To fail to take into account.

They reckoned without the problem of lack of funds.

relate to

To understand and share the feelings of another person.

He is unable to relate to older people.

To have a friendly relationship with someone.

He doesn’t relate well to his peers.

rely on/upon

To depend on.

This landlocked country has to rely on its eastern neighbor for its import and export.

To trust someone

You can safely rely on his judgment.

remark on

To pass comment.

Her friends at the party remarked on her outfit.

remind of

To make someone remember someone else.

The song reminds him of his mates in his prison days.

To make someone remember something.

How often do you look at your watch to remind you of the time?

report back

To bring or send back an account of something, as a journalist or reporter does.

He reported back that the violence had escalated.

report to

To be responsible to someone at the workplace.

We were told to report to the new manager tomorrow.

rest on

To depend.

The future of the company rests solely on consumers’ demand.

To look steadily and intently.

His eyes rested on the young girl sitting alone in the corner.

rest with

To have the responsibility to do something.

The final decision to or not to release the hostages rests with the leader.

result from

To be caused by something.

His death resulted from the negligence on the doctor's part.  

result in

To be caused by something.

The accident resulted in the loss of his left leg.

ring back

To return a telephone call.

She said she would ring back and that was ten hours ago.

ring in

To call one’s workplace by telephone.

The boss rang in to inform he had taken the day off.  

To mark the start of something new.

The city never fails to ring in the New Year with a brilliant firework display.

ring off

To end a telephone call.

After a long conversation, we agreed to ring off.

ring out

To be loud and clear.

A scream rang out from the house across the road in the middle of the night.

ring up

To use a cash register to record an amount.

The new cashier rang up the wrong amount.

To call someone or some place by telephone.

Someone rang up the fire station to report a fire.

run across

To find or meet by chance.

I ran across my ex and her lover this morning.

run after

To seek the attention of someone with the intention of getting romantically involved.

He is always running after girls with long hair.

To catch someone up for a purpose.

He ran after her to return a set of keys which she dropped.

run against

To compete for something, especially a position of power.

He intends to run against his father in the by-election.

To encounter something unexpectedly.

While swimming across the river, we soon found ourselves running against strong current.

run along

To tell someone, especially children to go away.

The children were told to run along so that the two adults could carry on with their conversation.

run around

To get oneself busy doing many different things.

At your age, you shouldn’t be running around like that.

run away

To leave secretly from someone or some place.

The husband ran away from his domineering wife.

run away with

To win easily.

She ran away with two gold medals in this year’s swimming competition.

To leave secretly with someone.

This is the second time he ran away with a neighbour’s wife.

run down

To hit and knock down someone or something with a vehicle.

A car ran down a pedestrian while being chased by a patrol car.

To represent someone as being of little worth; to criticize unfairly.

She often runs herself down as she feels she’s unable to deal with her life.

To trace and capture someone.

The police have finally run down the leader of the drug traffickers in his new hideout.

To reduce the size, resources, etc. of something.

They are running down their ostrich farm as the demand for ostrich meat and eggs has fallen.

To examine something in details; to go over.

We have to run down the list of names to make sure no one is excluded.

To lose power.

The clock has stopped working; it’s very probable its batteries have run down.

run into

To use a vehicle to hit someone or something by accident.

He lost control of his car and ran it into a bus.

To experience a difficulty.

We ran into financial difficulties six months after we started the business.

To meet by chance.

This morning I ran into an old colleague.

To amount to.

His wealth is likely to run into seven figures in a few years.

run off

To run away secretly to get married.

Her husband ran off with her sister.

To run away from someone.

He ran off after getting her pregnant.

To print or to duplicate.

The new machine can run off fifty copies in a minute.

To shed the extra weight.

She joined a new gym to run off her excess pounds.

run off with

To secretly escape or to leave hurriedly to avoid arrest.

He ran off with a huge sum of his employer’s money.

run on

To continue longer than is expected.

The lecture became more boring when it ran on for another hour.

To be powered by something.

The professor claimed to have invented a car that ran on seawater.

run out

To be used up.

She felt like screaming at him when her patience ran out.

To come to the end of the period of validity; to expire.

Our operating licence runs out at the end of the year.

run out of

To use up.

We can’t post our letters now as we have run out of stamps.

To become used up

We are running out of funds at the moment, so we are not going on holiday.

run out on

To suddenly leave someone.

She deeply regrets running out on her parents a few months ago.

run over

To knock down and pass over someone or something by a vehicle.

His dog died shortly after it was run over by a taxi.

To review.

Let’s run over the tables and figures in the report before we leave for the meeting.

To overflow.

Someone left the tap on and the water ran over.

To exceed the expected ending time.

The meeting has run over by nearly an hour; shall we continue tomorrow?

run through

To go over something.

Let’s run through the solutions to the exercises again.

To examine something.

She ran through my essay and discovered some spelling mistakes.

run to

To reach a particular amount or level.

How could a bill for a minor repair to my car run to a hundred dollars?

run up

To increase in amount or number.

We ran up a very large hotel bill.

To make something, especially clothes, hurriedly.

With his new machine, the tailor can run up a piece of clothing within hours.

run up against

To unexpectedly meet or be faced with difficulty.

Construction of a chemical plant had run up against growing local opposition.

rush around

To act with urgent haste.

We rushed around informing all the members of the last-minute cancellation.

rush into

To get involved without prior consideration.

John begins to regret rushing into that high-risk venture without careful thought.

rush out

To quickly produce and distribute something.

The manufacturer is rushing out the novelties for the festive season.