runaway
Americannoun
adjective
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having run away; escaped; fugitive.
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(of a horse or other animal) having escaped from the control of the rider or driver.
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pertaining to or accomplished by running away or eloping.
a runaway marriage.
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easily won, as a contest.
a runaway victory at the polls.
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unchecked; rampant.
runaway prices.
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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.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of runaway
First recorded in 1505–15; noun, adj. use of verb phrase run away
Explanation
A runaway is a person — often a child or teenager — who leaves home. A runaway is usually unhappy at home, and most runaways have families that are desperate to find them. A kid who grabs some snacks and hides out all night in his neighbor's tree house is one kind of runaway — a more serious runaway is a teenager who hitchhikes to a city and lives on the street or in a shelter. You can also use the word as an adjective to mean "out of control," like a runaway car rolling down a hill with no driver, or a movie that's a runaway success, making more money than anyone thought possible.
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.
See Examples For:
It was the runaway winner, though the government subsequently said the ship would be named after the naturalist David Attenborough.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
Perhaps that’s why, when Spielberg’s “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” was released 25 years ago this month, it wasn’t exactly the runaway summer hit audiences had come to anticipate from the director.
From Salon ● Jun. 28, 2026
Thus, he dared to break with long-held dogma that the economy would overheat and spark runaway inflation if allowed to grow at a sustained rate of much above 2.5% per year.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026
They paved the way for the reinvention of the stock market—and the creation of runaway wealth.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 13, 2026
News of a runaway sent them into cheerful activity.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
A database by the Texas Runaway Slave Project, which found listings for 2,500 runaways across various Texas newspapers from the 1840s through the 1860s, also documents the frequented journey to Mexico.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2026
For years after cousins Elsie Eldora Luscier and Carlotta Maria Sanchez disappeared from the Quinault Indian Reservation in August 1979, authorities thought they were runaways.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 8, 2023
Police said the boys were runaways from a residential care facility in San Dimas, which is about 46 miles east of Santa Monica.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 8, 2023
Like Fardousa, the 23-year-old ran away from home and found herself immersed in Mogadishu's underground lifestyle consisting of fellow young runaways who have no financial support.
From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2023
But there were roving slave patrollers, who made a living capturing runaways for bounties.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
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.
