Run Into a Brick Wall

Also:
Run into a stone wall
Hit a brick wall

Meaning of Idiom ‘Run Into a Brick Wall’

To run into a brick wall means to encounter a barrier to progress that cannot be surmounted; to be stopped in one’s efforts by something. ¹Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.

Sentence Examples

“The scientist’s research was making great progress until he ran into a brick wall when his main grant was not renewed.”

“I was making good progress researching my family’s genealogy but beyond the late 1800s I keep hitting a brick wall.”

“We’ve been trying to get this building approved for a year but we keep running into a stone wall trying to get past the zoning board.”

Origin

Used since at least the 1940s.

More Idioms Starting with R

• Run a Fever
• Rub Someone the Wrong Way
• Raw Deal, a
• Running On Fumes
• Run a Bath

More Brick Idioms

• Talking to a Brick Wall
• Built Like a Brick Shithouse
• Bang One’s Head Against A Brick Wall

More Into Idioms

• Talk Into
• Run Into the Ground
• Run Into
• Rub Salt in the Wound
• Out of the Frying Pan Into the Fire

More Run Idioms

• Run a Fever
• Running On Fumes
• Run a Bath
• Hit the Ground Running
• Run Low (to be running low)

More Stone Idioms

• Stone’s Throw, a

More Wall Idioms

• Run a Fever
• Running On Fumes
• Run a Bath
• Hit the Ground Running
• Run Low (to be running low)