runty
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of runty
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:
Weyerhaeuser, America’s largest private landowner, launched a venture to turn runty trees and sawdust from its mills into a replacement for metallurgical coal used in steel making.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 18, 2025
Think of it as Gotham’s runty younger brother.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 25, 2022
Such runty particles wouldn’t produce detectable nuclear recoils.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 27, 2022
Is it as heartwarming as a runty, wilted Christmas tree revived by love?
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2020
He looked like any hitchhiker you might see on an American highway—nothing like the little runty boy I used to defend from bullies at Yancy Academy.
From "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan
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According to Falklands Conservation, about two dozen breeding pairs nest among the rockhoppers, which look like the macaroni’s runtier twin.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 1, 2016
In World War I, Graham was one of the runtiest of U.S. marines.
From Time Magazine Archive
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In 1917, after taking an M.A. at Columbia, Frank Graham became one of the runtiest marines on record.
From Time Magazine Archive
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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.