speedrun

American  

[speed-ruhn] / ˈspidˌrʌn /

noun

1. (in a video game) a session or instance of play in which the goal is to finish the game or level, or meet another game-play objective, as quickly as possible.

   Can you beat a 45-minute speedrun of Super Mario?

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verb (used with object)

1. to play (a video game) with such a goal.

   She tried to speedrun the dungeon without fighting any ghouls.

Etymology

Origin of speedrun

First recorded in 2000–05; speed ( def. ) + run ( def. )

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

speedrun

“When a new speedrun world record is on the line, drastic measures must be taken,” Maayah said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

“We’re basically trying to speedrun 20 years of scientific progress in two years,” said Batson, a research scientist at Anthropic.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2025

JH says the speedrun community was "gutted" when they learned Mario and Sonic wouldn't be heading for Paris.

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2024

“We’ve seen the feedback around changes that impacted various multiplayer jumps and campaign speedrun strategies,” Junyszek said on May 5th.

From The Verge ● May 13, 2022

I knew he’d probably gone to Gygax, or somewhere equally awesome, to speedrun through a few quests and rack up some XPs.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

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