runaway
the act of running away.
a decisive or easy victory.
a young person, especially a teenager, who has run away from home.
having run away; escaped; fugitive.
(of a horse or other animal) having escaped from the control of the rider or driver.
pertaining to or accomplished by running away or eloping: a runaway marriage.
easily won, as a contest: a runaway victory at the polls.
unchecked; rampant: runaway prices.
Informal. deserting or revolting against one's group, duties, expected conduct, or the like, especially to establish or join a rival group, change one's life drastically, etc.: The runaway delegates nominated their own candidate.
Origin of runaway
1Other words for runaway
Words Nearby runaway
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use runaway in a sentence
A star can become a runaway when other massive stars fling it away through their gravity.
Runaway stars may create the mysterious ultraviolet glow around some galaxies | Ken Croswell | November 30, 2020 | Science NewsWe still have to rein in runaway health care costs, and get the still-raging pandemic under control, to say nothing of preparing for whatever outbreaks are yet to come.
The problem is that runaway fires in overgrown forests don’t achieve the same results as controlled burns.
Suppressing fires has failed. Here’s what California needs to do instead. | James Temple | September 17, 2020 | MIT Technology ReviewIt’s unlikely that any big automaker can remain a runaway growth machine after decades in the business, but we’ll give Tesla a generous multiple of 25 in 2030, meaning that investors still expect it to wax at better-than-industry rates.
Tesla has a business model problem: It can never justify its current stock price by simply making cars | Shawn Tully | August 29, 2020 | FortuneAntarctica’s existing ice sheets, for example, could theoretically limit runaway greenhouse warming.
A rainforest once grew near the South Pole | Carolyn Gramling | May 11, 2020 | Science News For Students
In other words, runaway defense spending is a bipartisan problem.
But the runaway best example of the game is another cluster of British luxury vehicles—Range Rover, Land Rover and Jaguar.
runaway corporations benefited from those policies but want U.S. companies to pay their share of the tab.
The Democrats Have Found a New Boogeyman, and It’s Burger King | Tim Mak | August 26, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThey told her they had heard she harbored gay men and runaway girls.
An Iraqi Group Helping Women and Gays Is Receiving Death Threats | Jacob Siegel | July 22, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTGodzilla and X-Men: Days of Future Past both did well at the box office, but neither were runaway success stories.
And here we come to the first unpleasant incident in the story of the runaway children.
The Box-Car Children | Gertrude Chandler Warner"He's a runaway, sir, from my kennels out in Townsend," the man explained to Mr. Cordyce.
The Box-Car Children | Gertrude Chandler Warner"And there's that infernal coward of a ranchero," cried Coronado, as the runaway sentry sneaked back to the group.
Overland | John William De ForestThat I should have to meet this miserable runaway serf, and find myself in his power in the midst of a Syrian desert!
The Pilgrim's Shell or Fergan the Quarryman | Eugne SueThe shot had missed; they heard the runaway splash into the river and go stumbling across it and then there was silence.
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine | John Fox, Jr.
British Dictionary definitions for run away
to take flight; escape
to go away; depart
(of a horse) to gallop away uncontrollably
run away with
to abscond or elope with: he ran away with his boss's daughter
to make off with; steal
to escape from the control of: his enthusiasm ran away with him
to win easily or be assured of victory in (a competition): he ran away with the race
a person or animal that runs away
(as modifier): a runaway horse
the act or an instance of running away
(modifier) occurring as a result of the act of eloping: a runaway wedding
(modifier) (of a race, victory, etc) easily won: a runaway ten-shot victory
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 runaway
Flee, escape, as in Our dog is no watchdog; he runs away from strangers, or Our six-year-old said he'd run away from home. [Late 1300s]
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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