View synonyms for

runaround

[ ruhn-uh-round ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

indecisive or evasive treatment, especially in response to a request:
Ask for a raise and he'll give you the runaround.
Synonyms: , ,
Printing. an arrangement of type in which several lines are set in narrower measure than the others in a column to accommodate an illustration, initial, or the like.

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Word History and Origins

Origin of runaround¹

1870–75, Americanism; noun use of verb phrase run around

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Idioms and Phrases

see get the runaround .

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

People generally use “Kafkaesque” as an exaggerated metaphor, perhaps to describe the runaround you get from an insurance company or an especially aggravating trip to the DMV.

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Can this show keep people invested in this runaround for two more seasons?

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By his own admission, Marcus Johnson's metallic blue Suzuki Swift was an unremarkable car - a little runaround bought after passing his driving test.

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“The common theme that we kept running into was that this was a big deal for many residents and almost all of us got the runaround from the city of Long Beach,” Oliver said.

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I didn’t have time for all her runaround talk, and I was surprised that she cared so little.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

run a risk run around

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