Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To acquire or come into (something usually undesirable); sustain.
  • transitive verb To become liable or subject to as a result of one's actions; bring upon oneself.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To run upon; impinge upon; run against or strike.
  • To encounter, as some undesirable or injurious consequence; become liable or subject to through one's own action; bring upon one's self: as, to incur liabilities.
  • To enter; pass; occur; come to pass.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb obsolete To pass; to enter.
  • transitive verb To meet or fall in with, as something inconvenient, harmful, or onerous; to put one's self in the way of; to expose one's self to; to become liable or subject to; to bring down upon one's self; to encounter; to contract
  • transitive verb obsolete To render liable or subject to; to occasion.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To bring upon or expose oneself to, especially something inconvenient, harmful, or onerous; to become liable or subject to.
  • verb To render somebody liable or subject to.
  • verb obsolete, transitive To enter or pass into.
  • verb obsolete, intransitive To fall within a period or scope; to occur; to run into danger.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb make oneself subject to; bring upon oneself; become liable to
  • verb receive a specified treatment (abstract)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English incurren, from Old French encorir, from Latin incurrere, to run upon : in-, on; see in– + currere, to run; see kers- in Indo-European roots.]

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Examples

  • This value is the actual financial damages that you will incur from a persecution by the HRC.

    Practical Actuarial Mathematics for the Common Man 2008

  • It's a simple fact of politics that many measures which would save money in the medium-to-long term incur costs in the short term.

    The costs that come before savings 2009

  • But I know, as it seems to me, that if civilized countries follow the principles of "political correctness" and observing laws literally, they will again incur innumerable calamities, like those from Hitler and Stalin.

    Vitaly L. Ginzburg - Autobiography 2004

  • – But, turning them tenderly on Orlando, she sighing said, 'Ah! how can I hope your sister Selina, amiable and indulgent as she seems, will again incur, for me, hazard which I see now makes her tremble, and fears which I myself can hardly endure?

    The Old Manor House 1793

  • Richard S. Busch, an attorney for the Eminem camp, reportedly spent most of the second day of the trial pounding a former Universal commerce executive with questions over exactly what costs the labels incur when selling music tracks online, which does away with the need for jewel cases, CD duplication, sales teams, and in-store displays.

    AppleInsider 2009

  • It’s reasonable to expect that a lifelong smoker will incur significant medical bills at some point, whether from emphysema, asthma, cancer, or some other condition that’s bound to incur from the inhalation of millions of cubic meters of smoke, particulate ash and dozens of nasty chemicals.

    Albmarle Facing $2.8M Deficit at cvillenews.com 2002

  • I get paid $10/hour as a secretary, and yet my job expects me to pay for my own cell phone so that I can be reachable at any time they do pay for any time that work calls incur, but I still have to pay for the service to keep it on.

    John Stossel on the Wage Gap 2005

  • For men naturally have but faint notions of things spiritual, and such as incur not into their senses; but their eyes, their ears, and their hands are too often made by them the rule of their faith, but almost always the reason of their practice.

    Sermons Preached Upon Several Occasions. Vol. II. 1634-1716 1823

  • I guess can you give us a sense for what that would kind of incur in terms of the volume and pricing?

    SeekingAlpha.com: Home Page 2010

  • No, I think if look at the Q4 2009, obviously acquisitions raised the percentage to revenue to the high 19s and in 2010, you know, we expect to kind of incur (inaudible) depending on how you model it maybe to 5.4 in integration, some of you don't.

    SeekingAlpha.com: Home Page 2010

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