run

Meanings

1. To move quickly on foot.
2. To manage or operate something, such as a shop or a machine.
3. To flow, as water does.

Example sentences

• "I run in the park every morning."

  Level A1, Meaning 1

• "She ran to catch the bus."

  Level A1, Meaning 1

• "His parents run a small cafe."

  Level B1, Meaning 2

• "Water was running down the window."

  Level A2, Meaning 3

Synonyms and antonyms

Look-alikes and common mistakes

• ran : Ran is the past tense of run: "She ran home." After have or has, use run: "She has run home."

Word family and forms

Forms: runs, ran, running

Word partners

Words and phrases that often go with "run".

• run a race
• run fast
• run out of
• run a business
• run away
• run into

Idioms and phrases

in the long run

Over a long period of time, when everything is counted.

"Saving a little each month will help you in the long run."

run out of

To use all of something so that none is left.

"We ran out of milk, so I went to the shop."

a dry run

A practice of something before the real thing.

"We did a dry run of the talk the night before."

Origin

Run comes from Old English rinnan, with a related word in Old Norse, and both meant to run or to flow. That older sense of flowing is still alive when we say that a river runs or a nose runs.

Checked against: Wiktionary, the free dictionary, Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Dictionary.com.

How to remember it

Run, ran, run: only the middle word changes. Say it fast like a short race: run, ran, run.

Test yourself

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