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Synonyms

run after

British  

verb

  1. to pursue (a member of the opposite sex) with persistent attention

  2. to pursue (anything) persistently

  3. to care for in an excessively attentive or servile way

    she runs after her three grown sons as if they were babies
"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
run after Idioms  

  1. Also, chase after.

  2. Follow, pursue with haste, as in Our dog loves to run after the mail truck , or The children were chasing after the geese in the park . [c. 1300]

  3. Seek the company or attention of, especially aggressively. For example, He's run after her for a year, but she just ignores him . [Early 1500s]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

You reach River Canyon Run after an 80-step climb.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 7, 2026

Run after run, hour after hour spent at the crease.

From BBC • Dec. 16, 2025

The FBI, which went to Dents Run after sophisticated testing suggested tons of gold might be buried there, has long insisted the dig came up empty.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 18, 2023

The student had been transferred to Broad Run after the Stone Bridge attack.

From Washington Times • Dec. 13, 2022

Gibby drove them back to Fox Run after a few hours because she had to go to work.

From "The First State of Being" by Erin Entrada Kelly

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.