run up against — encounter (unexpected) difficulty or opposition
phrasal verbC1IELTS 7+neutraloccasional
to suddenly face a problem, difficulty, or resistance, especially when you did not expect it.
Say it like a native
Textbook We encountered considerable opposition from the committee.
Native We ran up against a lot of opposition.
'Run up against' is the natural verb for hitting unexpected resistance; 'encountered considerable opposition' is formal.
Pattern: run up against + noun (problem/difficulty/opposition/challenge)
In use
- We ran up against several unexpected issues when launching the new software.work
- In my experience, students often run up against difficulties when adapting to a new education system, especially if the teaching style is very different from what they're used to.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ We ran up against with a few problems.
✓ We ran up against a few problems.
'Run up against' takes the object directly — no 'with'.
Common collocations
run up against + obstacle— opposition, a problem, resistance, a deadline
Don't confuse it
Unlike the literal sense of 'run up' (e.g., to run up a hill), this sense is figurative and means to encounter a problem or obstacle, not to physically run anywhere.