runner
noun
Simple meaning
A person who moves quickly on foot, especially for exercise or sport.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ruhnerSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɹʌnɚ
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Any entrant, person or animal (especially a horse), for a race or any competition; a candidate for an election.
A trained athlete who competes in foot races
A person who moves, on foot, at a fast pace, especially an athlete.
chiefly in combination
A person or vessel that runs blockades or engages in smuggling.
Agent noun of run; one who runs.
cricket
A baseball player on the team at bat who is on base (or attempting to reach a base)
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Any entrant, person or animal (especially a horse), for a race or any competition; a candidate for an election.
Used this way, runner is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in government or politics contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Government/politics
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use runner
- “The fastest runner finished the race in record time.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The competitor who finishes second.
A finish in second place (as in a race).
Tropical American bean with red flowers and mottled black beans similar to Phaseolus vulgaris but perennial.
Fish of western Atlantic: Cape Cod to Brazil.
Long bean pods usually sliced into half-inch lengths.
A competitor thought likely to win.
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Words can change meaning depending on context.
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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.