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Synonyms

run the show

Idioms  

  1. Take charge, assume control, as in Ever since Bill retired from the business, his daughter's been running the show. The word show here simply means “kind of undertaking.” [First half of 1900s] A similar usage is run one's own show, meaning “exert control over one's own activities” or “act independently.” For example, The high school drama club didn't ask permission to perform that play—they want to run their own show. [Mid-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.

It was both the first time they’d run the show on a stage and the last time they would practice before the sold-out Beautiful Chaos tour.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 9, 2025

Lorenzo: Celtic cannot progress while the same faces run the show with their regular-managed decline.

From BBC • Aug. 20, 2025

"So this is the worry, you need the correct creative people to run the show."

From BBC • Feb. 20, 2025

Billups emphasized the Blazers aren’t going to ask Ayton to run the show, like Joel Embiid in Philadelphia or Nikola Jokic in Denver.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 6, 2023

In Africa, Gene had felt that C. J. was trying to run the show, and it irritated Gene to no end.

From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston

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.