roadrunner
Americannoun
-
roadrunners
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of roadrunner
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How does roadrunner compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
With its long tail, distinctive crest, and fierce eyes, the fast-running bird called a roadrunner resembles a mini meat-eating dinosaur as it races along the ground to catch its prey. Found in the deserts of the American Southwest and Mexico, the roadrunner is often featured in Native American folklore. It was even a character in a long-running cartoon, where it was shown ever-outsmarting — and outrunning — a coyote in hot pursuit. A roadrunner can’t really outrun a coyote, but it can dart across the desert floor at up to 20 miles per hour! While it can fly, it spends most of its time on the ground, where it chases down insects, lizards, and even small rattlesnakes.
Vocabulary lists containing roadrunner
Birds, Birds, Birds, List 1
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Where the River Takes Us
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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:
It’s a one-track, single-minded way of thinking, eerily reminiscent of, oh, I don’t know, a hungry coyote blindly pursuing a roadrunner.
From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2026
“Tonight, I feel a little like the coyote with no more roadrunner to chase.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 23, 2026
After that, we visited the newly installed Ricardo Breceda rattlesnake and roadrunner metal sculptures.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 30, 2025
A well-meaning duck, hardwired with aquatic mobility skills, may not have the perspective to coach a roadrunner in competitive swimming.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 12, 2023
Offhand, I couldn’t think of one, except the plywood roadrunner.
From "Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli
The cultural shift began years ago in Phoenix, and many residents now take pride in their saguaros and palo verde trees, and post snapshots of bobcats and roadrunners in their yards.
From Scientific American ● Apr. 20, 2023
Lizards and roadrunners skitter across the museum floor.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 14, 2022
Thomas Tomlinson creates laser-cut wood hangings of Southwestern subjects like cow skulls and roadrunners.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 11, 2019
We lived on forty acres instead of four hundred square feet, cohabitated with roadrunners and rabbits instead of roaches and rats.
From Salon ● Mar. 2, 2019
I guess the coldest night was the one we spent in an old rundown schoolhouse, after chasing the skunks and roadrunners out.
From The Life of Me; an autobiography by Clarence Edgar Johnson
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
