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run high

Idioms  

  1. Be intense, as in Feelings are running high on the issue of raising taxes. This expression, first recorded in 1711, transfers the strong currents or tides that make for high waves to human concerns.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Giddy emotions run high and feel as if they will last forever.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 24, 2026

But although passions run high on both sides of the Atlantic, European and American core interests remain deeply linked.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 21, 2026

Worries over the fate of the site -- and what could happen -- run high.

From Barron's • Dec. 26, 2025

This is why the erecting of a wooden fence on a stretch of beach earlier this year, has caused passions to run high.

From BBC • Oct. 31, 2025

Nevertheless, feeling against Frederick continued to run high.

From "Animal Farm: A Fairy Story" by George Orwell

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.