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runaway

noun · adjective

Simple meaning

A person or animal that runs away or has run away.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

ruhnuhway

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈɹʌnəweɪ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A person or animal that runs away or has run away; a person, animal, or organization that escapes captivity or restrictions.

  2. usually attributive

    An object or process that is out of control or out of equilibrium.

  3. The act of running away, especially of a horse or teams.

  4. A vehicle (especially, a train) that is out of control.

  5. An easy victory

  6. An overwhelming victory.

adjective

  1. Having run away; escaped; fugitive; fleeting.

  2. of a horse or other animal

    Having escaped from the control of the rider or driver.

  3. Accelerating out of control.

  4. Pertaining to or accomplished by running away or eloping.

  5. Easily won, as a contest.

  6. Unchecked; rampant.

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A person or animal that runs away or has run away; a person, animal, or organization that escapes captivity or restrictions.

Used this way, runaway is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use runaway

  • “Our team scored many points, making the game a runaway victory.”noun

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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: having run away

fugitive

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.