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Glite Dictionary
💧 To flow downward 🔎 To investigate 🔋 To use up 🏃 To chase and catch 🚗 To hit with vehicle 📋 To review quickly
to run down

to run down

28 5.6
To find the source of something by checking facts
  • phrasal verb
  • /rʌn daʊn/
translation icon : investigar
  • She spent the afternoon trying to run down the source of the rumor.
  • run down leads

We did and unfortunately we wasted so much time yesterday running down and so many it is.

Examples

  • The 10th day since the kidnapping passed without any tangible result, although the police continue to run down every clue.

    Three on a Match (1932)

  • We are running down a possible U-boat contact.

    Greyhound (2020)

  • We're running down a story.

    The Toast of New York (1937)

  • I'm trying to run down leads on a case.

    Endangered (2022)

  • There were fingerprints throughout the house that we needed to run down.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • I think we should run down a check on everybody who knew Tom Gruneman.

    Klute (1971)

  • We can expect spikes, I believe in the next week or two as we're trying to run down those leads that we gathered there on target.

  • Joe Christie, an Interior official trying to run down the named plaintiffs' documents, testified that Perlmutter told him to hold off on production until they figured out how to do it simultaneously with the larger statistical sample still being sought.

    Academic text (1999)

  • The detective was determined to run down all the information related to the case.

  • To solve the mystery, the team must run down each possible lead and gather the facts.

Synonyms

to investigate
vsto run down
∞ 2.8

To look carefully at something to find facts

adds an emphasis on tracing origin or source beyond general fact finding
to trace
vsto run down
455 3.3

To follow and find where something began

emphasizes full investigation to uncover facts rather than only following a path
to track down
vsto run down
212 3.3

To search for someone or something until you find them

focuses on investigating origins and facts rather than simply locating items
to hunt down
vsto run down
148 3.9

Search for and find someone or something after a lot of effort

is about tracing facts and sources, not forceful or aggressive searching
to get to the bottom of
vsto run down
137 3.9

Find the real reason for a problem by checking carefully

focuses on tracing the origin or source rather than only proving cause
to probe
vsto run down
  • Literature
35 5.1

To ask careful questions to find hidden information

focuses on tracing sources and facts rather than mainly asking questions
to drill down
vsto run down
11 4.8

To look closely at information by breaking it into smaller parts

is broader, covering tracing and overall source discovery not only data analysis

Antonyms

to ignore
∞ 1.0

Choose not to pay attention to someone or something

How Thorough

to pinpoint
123 4.0
to run down
28 5.6
to investigate
∞ 2.8
to look into
573 2.8
to check out
∞ 2.5

Surface Forms

run down infinitive
running down present participle
runs down third person singular
ran down past
ran down past participle

Morphology

run + down

The idea of causing something to be brought down by movement is derivable from 'run' (movement) + 'down' (to bring down), so learners could partly infer a physical knocking-down sense. However, the specific sense involving striking and passing over with a vehicle (akin to 'run over') is a more specific usage that is not fully predictable from the parts and may require prior exposure, so it is only partially transparent.

Etymology

Run down may come from the idea of running along a track or list of clues to find their source, like following a line until you reach its start. So it means 'to trace or investigate something to find the origin'.