run around
Britishverb
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(often foll by with) to associate habitually (with)
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to behave in a fickle or promiscuous manner
noun
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informal deceitful or evasive treatment of a person (esp in the phrase give or get the run-around )
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printing an arrangement of printed matter in which the column width is narrowed to accommodate an illustration
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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]
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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]
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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.
It has batting cages, climbing walls, golf simulators and fields to run around in those cleats before walking out with them.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 14, 2026
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
Faced with an angry monkey, these kids can’t think of much else to do other than run around hunting for their smartphones.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 9, 2026
The waiters in the cafes in St. Mark's Square had to run around just as much, but at least they were home by midnight at the latest.
From "The Thief Lord" by Cornelia Funke
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.
