runaway

American  

[ruhn-uh-wey] / ˈrʌn əˌweɪ /

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.

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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.

Etymology

Origin of runaway

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

Example Sentences

And that’s not even considering all of the movies that will become surprise, runaway hits upon their release.

From Salon

He reasons that when a cycle-ending catalyst does appear—whether tighter monetary policy, recession, runaway inflation, an asset bubble bursting, or global shock—there have always been distinct warning signs.

From Barron's

The runaway success of Labubu, the elf-like dolls created by Chinese toy maker Pop Mart, highlights the country's growing appetite for collectable toys, especially among young people.

From BBC

This gets to the core of the matter: AI is driving runaway demand for processors like those Nvidia makes, but they would be paperweights without memory, so demand there is going bananas, too.

From Barron's

After the Cuyahoga River was badly damaged by runaway industrialization, its multidecade cleanup effort required new technologies to monitor and remediate its water quality.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• rampant
• unbridled
• unchecked
• uncontrolled
• unrestrained