into

[ in-too; unstressed in-too, -tuh ]
See synonyms for into on Thesaurus.com
preposition
  1. to the inside of; in toward: He walked into the room. The train chugged into the station.

  2. toward or in the direction of: going into town.

  1. to a point of contact with; against: backed into a parked car.

  2. (used to indicate insertion or immersion in): plugged into the socket.

  3. (used to indicate entry, inclusion, or introduction in a place or condition): received into the church.

  4. to the state, condition, or form assumed or brought about: went into shock; lapsed into disrepair; translated into another language.

  5. to the occupation, action, possession, circumstance, or acceptance of: went into banking; coerced into complying.

  6. (used to indicate a continuing extent in time or space): lasted into the night; far into the distance.

  7. (used to indicate the number to be divided by another number): 2 into 20 equals 10.

  8. Informal. interested or absorbed in, especially obsessively: She's into yoga and gardening.

  9. Slang. in debt to: I'm into him for ten dollars.

adjective
  1. Mathematics. pertaining to a function or map from one set to another set, the range of which is a proper subset of the second set, as the function f, from the set of all integers into the set of all perfect squares where f(x) = x2 for every integer.

Origin of into

1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English, Old English; in + to

Words Nearby into

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use into in a sentence

  • No sooner had they disappeared than Siegfried came into-393- the wood, armed for the hunt.

    Operas Every Child Should Know | Mary Schell Hoke Bacon
  • Bess went to put on her bonnet, and when she camc into-the parlour George backed into the fireplace with astonishment.

    Rogues and Vagabonds | George R. Sims

British Dictionary definitions for into

into

/ (ˈɪntuː, unstressed ˈɪntə) /


preposition
  1. to the interior or inner parts of: to look into a case

  2. to the middle or midst of so as to be surrounded by: into the water; into the bushes

  1. against; up against: he drove into a wall

  2. used to indicate the result of a transformation or change: he changed into a monster

  3. maths used to indicate a dividend: three into six is two

  4. informal interested or enthusiastically involved in: I'm really into Freud these days

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with into

into

In addition to the idioms beginning with into

  • into account
  • into effect
  • into line
  • into one's head
  • into question
  • into the bargain
  • into the blue
  • into the drink
  • into thin air

also see:

  • be into

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