Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
Note: In addition to the uses shown below, '~' is used after some verbs and nouns in order to introduce extra information. 'Into' is also used with verbs of movement, such as ‘walk’ and ‘push’, and in phrasal verbs such as ‘enter ~’ and ‘talk ~’.
1.
If you put one thing ~ another, you put the first thing inside the second.
Combine the remaining ingredients and put them ~ a dish...
Until the 1980s almost all olives were packed ~ jars by hand.
= in
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2.
If you go ~ a place or vehicle, you move from being outside it to being inside it.
I have no idea how he got ~ Iraq...
He got ~ bed and started to read.
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3.
If one thing goes ~ another, the first thing moves from the outside to the inside of the second thing, by breaking or damaging the surface of it.
The rider came off and the handlebar went ~ his neck.
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4.
If one thing gets ~ another, the first thing enters the second and becomes part of it.
Poisonous smoke had got ~ the water supply...
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5.
If you are walking or driving a vehicle and you bump ~ something or crash ~ something, you hit it accidentally.
A train plowed ~ the barrier at the end of the platform...
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6.
When you get ~ a piece of clothing, you put it on.
She could change ~ a different outfit in two minutes...
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7.
If someone or something gets ~ a particular state, they start being in that state.
I slid ~ a depression.
PREP: v PREP n, n PREP n
8.
If you talk someone ~ doing something, you persuade them to do it.
Gerome tried to talk her ~ taking an apartment in Paris.
PREP: v n PREP n/-ing
9.
If something changes ~ something else, it then has a new form, shape, or nature.
...his attempt to turn a nasty episode ~ a joke.
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10.
If something is cut or split ~ a number of pieces or sections, it is divided so that it becomes several smaller pieces or sections.
Sixteen teams are taking part, divided ~ four groups...
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11.
An investigation ~ a subject or event is concerned with that subject or event.
The concert will raise funds for research ~ Aids...
PREP: n PREP n
12.
If you move or go ~ a particular career or business, you start working in it.
In the early 1990s, it was easy to get ~ the rental business...
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13.
If something continues ~ a period of time, it continues until after that period of time has begun.
He had three children, and lived on ~ his sixties...
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14.
If you are very interested in something and like it very much, you can say that you are ~ it. (INFORMAL)
I’m ~ electronics myself.
PREP: v-link PREP n