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Synonyms

run around

British  

verb

  1. (often foll by with) to associate habitually (with)

  2. to behave in a fickle or promiscuous manner

"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

noun

  1. informal deceitful or evasive treatment of a person (esp in the phrase give or get the run-around )

  2. printing an arrangement of printed matter in which the column width is narrowed to accommodate an illustration

"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 around Idioms  

  1. Go about hurriedly here and there, as in I have been running around all day so I want to stay home tonight and relax . [Early 1900s]

  2. Also, run around with . Associate or consort with socially, as in At college she began to run around with a very liberal group . [Late 1800s]

  3. Be sexually unfaithful, as in She caught him running around just once too often and finally sued for divorce . [Early 1900s]

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.

Friday's stage five is a 166km run around Dubai and should also result in a bunch sprint.

From Barron's • Feb. 19, 2026

Concentration camp systems are always an end run around the existing legal system in a country at a given time.

From Slate • Feb. 17, 2026

Nothing could happen to the carpets, to the stone floor, so we couldn’t run around and have something to drink.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 4, 2025

Isak's lack of impact prompted justifiable claims that even the much-maligned and now departed Darwin Nunez would have at least run around a bit in a bid to make things happen.

From BBC • Nov. 25, 2025

She took Laurie to the park, lifted her out of the sulky and let her run around on the grass.

From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith

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.