RUNAWAY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does runaway mean? 

• RUNAWAY (noun)
  The noun RUNAWAY has 2 senses:

1. an easy victory

2. someone who flees from an uncongenial situation

  Familiarity information: RUNAWAY used as a noun is rare.

• RUNAWAY (adjective)
  The adjective RUNAWAY has 1 sense:

1. completely out of control

  Familiarity information: RUNAWAY used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RUNAWAY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An easy victory

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

blowout; laugher; romp; runaway; shoo-in; walkaway

Hypernyms ("runaway" is a kind of...):

triumph; victory (a successful ending of a struggle or contest)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Someone who flees from an uncongenial situation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

fleer; fugitive; runaway

Context example:

fugitives from the sweatshops

Hypernyms ("runaway" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Derivation:

run away (flee; take to one's heels; cut and run)

• RUNAWAY (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Completely out of control

Context example:

runaway inflation

Similar:

uncontrolled (not being under control; out of control)

 Context examples 

When you came to me, a little runaway boy, all dusty and way-worn, perhaps I thought so.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

With no water left on the surface, carbon dioxide built up in the atmosphere, leading to a so-called runaway greenhouse effect that created present conditions.

(NASA Climate Modeling Suggests Venus May Have Been Habitable, NASA)

We heard the folks shouting from the fields, under the impression that we were a runaway.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He knew too well my sympathy for the runaways to send me aloft as look-out.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

But every decade or so, something unpredictable happens: A series of runaway storms breaks out, covering the entire planet in a dusty haze.

(Global Storms on Mars Launch Dust Towers Into the Sky, NASA)

He had seen dogs change owners in the past, and he had seen the runaways beaten as he was being beaten.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

The researchers hypothesized that, in resilient animals, runaway excitatory currents trigger a boost in inhibitory currents, resulting in normal mood-related behaviors.

(Self-tuning neurons promote resilience to stress, depression, NIH)

The authors note that if the ice shell was slightly thinner in the south to begin with, it would lead to runaway heating there over time.

(Powering Saturn's Active Ocean Moon, NASA)

But this could also backfire in a "runaway greenhouse" process, in which the atmosphere becomes so thick the planet surface overheats – as on Venus.

(TRAPPIST-1 is Older Than Our Solar System, NASA/JPL)

Called the runaway albedo effect, this phenomenon would eventually lead to a single dominating ice cap, like the one observed on Pluto’s heart.

(Scientists Probe Mystery of Pluto’s Icy Heart, NASA)