What does incurring mean?
Incurring means experiencing or bringing upon oneself a particular consequence, most often an unwanted financial or legal one. The common expressions “incurring costs,” “incurring a loss,” and “incurring penalties” show its typical association with expenses, debt, damage, criticism, or formal sanctions, though the word is not limited to financial matters. Incur is transitive: it takes the thing being experienced, as in “incur a penalty,” while incurring is its present-participle and gerund form and can also appear before a noun, as in “incurring costs.” The verb is formal but broadly understood in British and American English. It is especially useful when a consequence results from an action or circumstance rather than being deliberately chosen. Its Latin ancestry is also vivid: incurre literally meant “to run into,” a fitting image for encountering a cost or liability as one proceeds.
verbIncurring is the present participle and gerund form of incur: to experience or bring upon oneself something, typically a loss, expense, debt, or penalty.
- Experiencing or bringing upon oneself a consequence, especially an unwanted financial, legal, or practical one.
- Running into or becoming subject to something, particularly a cost, debt, loss, or penalty.
"The delay has left the company incurring substantial costs."
"Many small businesses are incurring additional expenses as a result of the new regulations."
"The witness risks incurring penalties if she fails to disclose the information."
The word’s literal core is surprisingly physical: Latin in- means “into” and currere means “to run,” so incur originally meant “to run into.”
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does incurring come from?
Incur comes from Latin incurre, formed from in-, meaning “into,” and currere, meaning “to run”; the literal sense was “to run into.” The word entered English during the 16th century, with its use for encountering consequences extending to obligations, expenses, losses, and penalties. Related Latin formations include concurrent and recurrent, both built on currere.
Related word forms
How incurring is actually used
Formal to neutral and transitive. Incurring is the -ing form of incur and normally takes a noun such as a cost, loss, penalty, debt, or consequence. Although its contexts are often adverse, it can also describe neutral or beneficial results, as in “incurring attention” or “incurring criticism.”