run down

criticar, menospreciar

Hablar mal de alguien o algo, muchas veces de forma injusta.

En inglés sencillo: To say bad things about someone or something, often unfairly.

• Stop running down my friends.
• She ran the company down in her interview.
• Why do you always run yourself down?

Cómo se usa: run someone/something down (He keeps running his former employer down.)

Sinónimos: criticize, put down, disparage

Antónimos: praise

Expresiones frecuentes: run down someone, run someone down

agotarse, descargarse

Dicho de una batería o máquina: perder poco a poco la energía hasta dejar de funcionar.

En inglés sencillo: If a battery or machine does this, it slowly loses its power and stops working.

• The battery will run down soon.
• My watch ran down overnight.
• Leaving the headlights on makes the battery run down.

Sinónimos: lose power, go flat

Expresiones frecuentes: batteries run down, clocks run down

atropellar

Golpear a una persona con un vehículo y causarle heridas o la muerte.

En inglés sencillo: If a driver does this to someone, their vehicle hits and hurts or kills that person.

• A car ran down a pedestrian.
• She was run down while walking home.
• The driver nearly ran me down at the crossing.

Cómo se usa: run someone down (A speeding driver ran a cyclist down.)

Sinónimos: run over, hit

Expresiones frecuentes: run down someone, run someone down

reducir, disminuir

Reducir poco a poco la actividad o las existencias de un negocio, a menudo antes de cerrarlo.

En inglés sencillo: To gradually make a business smaller or reduce its supplies, often before closing it.

• The company is running down its stocks.
• They ran down the factory before selling it.
• We will run down operations over the next year.

Cómo se usa: run something down (They are running their stocks down before closing the warehouse.)

Sinónimos: scale down, reduce

Antónimos: expand

Expresiones frecuentes: run down stocks, run down operations

localizar, encontrar

Encontrar a alguien o algo después de una búsqueda larga o difícil.

En inglés sencillo: To find someone or something after a long or difficult search.

• I finally ran down his address.
• The detective ran down a witness in another town.
• Can you run down a copy of that report?

Cómo se usa: run someone/something down (I eventually ran down the missing document.)

Sinónimos: track down, locate, find

Expresiones frecuentes: run down someone, run down information

repasar, leer rápidamente

Leer rápidamente una lista o un texto corto.

En inglés sencillo: To quickly read a list or short piece of writing.

• I ran down the list of names.
• Run down the menu and see what looks good.
• She was running down her notes before the meeting.

Cómo se usa: run down something (Let me run down the list before we decide.)

Sinónimos: scan, skim, look through

Expresiones frecuentes: run down a list, run down the names