runaway

[ruhn-uh-wey]

See more synonyms for runaway on Thesaurus.com

noun

a person who runs away; fugitive; deserter.
a horse or team that has broken away from control.
the act of running away.

a decisive or easy victory.
a young person, especially a teenager, who has run away from home.

adjective

having run away; escaped; fugitive.
(of a horse or other animal) having escaped from the control of the rider or driver.
pertaining to or accomplished by running away or eloping: a runaway marriage.
easily won, as a contest: a runaway victory at the polls.
unchecked; rampant: runaway prices.
Informal. deserting or revolting against one's group, duties, expected conduct, or the like, especially to establish or join a rival group, change one's life drastically, etc.: The runaway delegates nominated their own candidate.

Origin of runaway

First recorded in 1505–15; noun, adj. use of verb phrase run away

Synonyms for runaway

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9. absolute, complete, perfect.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for runaway

escaped, delinquent, uncontrolled, escapee, fugitive, lawbreaker, wild, running, absconder, truant, deserter, maroon, offender, disorderly, loose

Examples from the Web for runaway

Contemporary Examples of runaway

In other words, runaway defense spending is a bipartisan problem.
Merry Christmas, Defense Contractors!
Veronique de Rugy
December 22, 2014
But the runaway best example of the game is another cluster of British luxury vehicles—Range Rover, Land Rover and Jaguar.
Nationalism on Four Wheels
Clive Irving
October 18, 2014
Runaway corporations benefited from those policies but want U.S. companies to pay their share of the tab.
The Democrats Have Found a New Boogeyman, and It’s Burger King
Tim Mak
August 26, 2014
They told her they had heard she harbored gay men and runaway girls.
An Iraqi Group Helping Women and Gays Is Receiving Death Threats
Jacob Siegel
July 22, 2014
Godzilla and X-Men: Days of Future Past both did well at the box office, but neither were runaway success stories.
Is the Summer Blockbuster Dead?
Kevin Fallon
July 14, 2014

Historical Examples of runaway

The peculiar feelings one has who is a "runaway" are indescribable.
Biography of a Slave
Charles Thompson
Neither was hurt, but it was the woman who pursued the runaway horse.
The Truth About Woman
C. Gasquoine Hartley
But I took you for a youngster, you know, a regular ten-year-old runaway.
The Innocent Adventuress
Mary Hastings Bradley
A man may arrest his own slave, and he may also imprison for safe-keeping the runaway slave of a friend.
Laws
Plato
To-morrow morning I'll be searching all over the house for my runaway.
The Christian
Hall Caine

Word Origin and History for runaway

n.

1540s, "one who flees," from verbal phrase, from run (v.) + away (adv.). Meaning "an act of running away" is from 1724.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper