verb
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to run faster, farther, or better than
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to escape from by or as if by running
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to go beyond; exceed
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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outrunsimple
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outrunssimple
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have outrunperfect
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has outrunperfect
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am outrunningprogressive
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are outrunningprogressive
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is outrunningprogressive
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have been outrunningperfect progressive
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has been outrunningperfect progressive
Past
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outransimple
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had outrunperfect
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was outrunningprogressive
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were outrunningprogressive
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had been outrunningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of outrun
Explanation
To outrun someone is to move faster than they do. Your lazy cat might enjoy hunting for mice, although the mice always seem to outrun him in the end. You can outrun an opponent in a race, and you can also watch a video game character outrun a pursuing zombie — outrun can also mean "escape from." Your dog might enjoy chasing cars, never managing to outrun them. More figuratively, you can say that your hopes always outrun the reality of a situation. In other words, what you dream of exceeds what actually happens.
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.
See Examples For:
Even the National Trust appeared to nod to this construction reality, complaining in its own brief to the court that the administration was “trying to outrun judicial review” by speeding construction.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
After spending the first season trying to outrun the consequences of losing his job, his marriage and his place among Westchester’s elite, time — and middle age — have finally caught up with him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
Not in the wholehearted country-song sense, where crossing the county line might allow me to outrun myself.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
"The market is increasingly rewarding companies that expand revenue while maintaining spending discipline, and penalising those whose ambitions have outrun their balance sheets," said Fabien Yip at IG.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
She can’t truly outrun her future, but you can’t tell her body that.
From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti
Longer term, the opportunity could grow into something meaningful, Seigerman said, and if uptake outruns expectations, there is real upside.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
The ability to rapidly generate a counter-narrative, complete with the imprimatur of an “AI tribunal,” is tailor-made for an attention economy where perception often outruns verification.
From Salon ● Apr. 23, 2026
Engineers call this problem the "memory wall," where processing speed outruns the chip's ability to feed it data.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 24, 2025
Stock-market booms always end the same way: Optimism outruns reality, capital floods in — then prices correct.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 2, 2025
My pulse outruns the seconds, each beat bringing me closer to capture.
From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
Nine days in February that revealed how the most powerful technology in human history outran every institution built to contain it.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 13, 2026
Nike outran expectations in its latest quarterly report.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2025
Enten noted that no party outran the polls three election cycles in a row nationally or in key battleground states since 1972.
From Salon ● Oct. 30, 2024
“His ambition outran his ethics,” Mr. Koenig said.
From New York Times ● Jun. 15, 2024
“We beat them. You listen to me and you be happy, Todd Hewitt. We’ve spent all this time outrunning an army and guess what? We outran them.”
From "The Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness
It helps to have a dynamic, special athlete in junior receiver Jalen Flowers, who contributed one touchdown on a short pass, slipping away and outrunning helpless defenders.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
The AI spending boom is outrunning Wall Street estimates, Trump considers changing capital-gains taxes, China’s property crisis isn’t over, and more news to start your day.
From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026
Some see an economy at risk of overheating, with demand outrunning what the Fed’s current rate setting can restrain.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
Yet the fear of AI appears to be vastly outrunning reality, based on current labor-market trends and also the long historical record of new technologies.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 1, 2026
“I suppose it’s either a matter of outrunning your shadow or staring it down in the light.”
From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool
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.
