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Glite Dictionary
⛔ Be used up 🏜️ Lose all water
to run dry

to run dry

10 4.2
To use up something so none is left, for example ideas
  • phrasal verb
  • /rʌn draɪ/
translation icon : agotarse
  • By this logic, warfare is a sure thing when natural resources run dry.
  • funds run dry
  • supply ran dry
  • tank runs dry

And slowly but surely the empathy well can kind of run dry.

Examples

  • Friends who've run dry with suggestions might be able to track down other sources.

    Blog text (19)

  • But mark my words, they will be the first to riot when the money runs dry.

    Blog text (3)

  • My supply of answers runs dry long before the phone call ends.

    Blog text (17)

  • The well of ideas for this column must have really been running dry...

    Blog text (15)

  • I've run dry on sympathy.

    Death on the Nile (2022)

  • After a while, Greyhorse's enthusiasm began to wind down; he began to run dry of ideas.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • One example is the Ciudad Juarez-El Paso area, whose groundwater supply has been predicted to run dry in 20 years.

    Academic text (2005)

  • The creek runs dry during the hot summer months, leaving the fish without a habitat.

  • If we do not conserve water, our reservoir will run dry before the end of the drought.

  • As winter approaches, many farmers worry that their irrigation systems may run dry due to low rainfall.

Synonyms

to run out
vsto run dry
937 1.9

Use all of something so none is left

also covers becoming depleted without implying active use
to run out of
vsto run dry
646 1.9

Have no more of something because you used it all

can mean becoming empty for any reason not only by use
to dry up
vsto run dry
19 2.7

To lose all water or moisture so it has none left

refers to loss of a supply generally not physical water loss
to run down
vsto run dry
15 3.2

To use up batteries, money or supplies until little remains

is broader meaning empty of any supply rather than mainly energy

Antonyms

to supply
400 1.6

To give things that someone needs or wants

to replenish
43 4.3

Fill something again after it has been used up

How Depleted

to run dry
10 4.2
to run out
937 1.9
to run low
31 2.5

Surface Forms

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

Morphology

run + dry

The meaning 'to become empty/exhausted' is directly derivable from combining 'run' (to flow or move) with 'dry' (lacking liquid): something that 'runs dry' ceases to have liquid. This follows a common English compositional pattern (compare 'run out', 'run empty') and has clear parallels in other languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will likely infer the meaning.

Etymology

Run dry was later used for other things when people pictured a supply, energy, or ideas that runs out and becomes dry. That's why we now use it to mean 'to be exhausted' or 'to be used up'.