runaway

[ ruhn-uh-wey ]

noun

1. a person who runs away; fugitive; deserter.
2. a horse or team that has broken away from control.
3. the act of running away.
4. a decisive or easy victory.
5. a young person, especially a teenager, who has run away from home.

adjective

1. having run away; escaped; fugitive.
2. (of a horse or other animal) having escaped from the control of the rider or driver.
3. pertaining to or accomplished by running away or eloping:

   a runaway marriage.

4. easily won, as a contest:

   a runaway victory at the polls.

   Synonyms: complete, absolute

5. unchecked; rampant:

   runaway prices.

6. 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.

Word History and Origins

Origin of runaway¹

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

Example Sentences

A star can become a runaway when other massive stars fling it away through their gravity.

From Science News

We still have to rein in runaway health care costs, and get the still-raging pandemic under control, to say nothing of preparing for whatever outbreaks are yet to come.

From Fortune

The problem is that runaway fires in overgrown forests don’t achieve the same results as controlled burns.

From MIT Technology Review

It’s unlikely that any big automaker can remain a runaway growth machine after decades in the business, but we’ll give Tesla a generous multiple of 25 in 2030, meaning that investors still expect it to wax at better-than-industry rates.

From Fortune

Antarctica’s existing ice sheets, for example, could theoretically limit runaway greenhouse warming.

From Science News For Students

In other words, runaway defense spending is a bipartisan problem.

From The Daily Beast

But the runaway best example of the game is another cluster of British luxury vehicles—Range Rover, Land Rover and Jaguar.

From The Daily Beast

Runaway corporations benefited from those policies but want U.S. companies to pay their share of the tab.

From The Daily Beast

They told her they had heard she harbored gay men and runaway girls.

From The Daily Beast

Godzilla and X-Men: Days of Future Past both did well at the box office, but neither were runaway success stories.

From The Daily Beast

And here we come to the first unpleasant incident in the story of the runaway children.

From Project Gutenberg

"He's a runaway, sir, from my kennels out in Townsend," the man explained to Mr. Cordyce.

From Project Gutenberg

"And there's that infernal coward of a ranchero," cried Coronado, as the runaway sentry sneaked back to the group.

From Project Gutenberg

That I should have to meet this miserable runaway serf, and find myself in his power in the midst of a Syrian desert!

From Project Gutenberg

The shot had missed; they heard the runaway splash into the river and go stumbling across it and then there was silence.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• rampant
• unbridled
• unchecked
• uncontrolled
• unrestrained