RUNOFF

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does runoff mean? 

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

1. the occurrence of surplus liquid (as water) exceeding the limit or capacity

2. a final election to resolve an earlier election that did not produce a winner

  Familiarity information: RUNOFF used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RUNOFF (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The occurrence of surplus liquid (as water) exceeding the limit or capacity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

overflow; overspill; runoff

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

flow; flowing (the motion characteristic of fluids (liquids or gases))

Derivation:

run off (run off as waste)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A final election to resolve an earlier election that did not produce a winner

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

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

election (a vote to select the winner of a position or political office)

Derivation:

run off (decide (a contest or competition) by a runoff)

 Context examples 

Runoff from the land carries nutrients into rivers and streams and eventually into larger waterbodies.

(Ancient lakes: eyes into the past, and the future, National Science Foundation)

The blooms are expected to become worse as the lake continues to be enriched by nitrogen and other nutrients from farm field runoff.

(Research reveals harmful algal blooms' daily cycles, National Science Foundation)

After a plant has been fertilized, there is another problem: runoff.

(Bacteria Used to Create Fertilizer Out of Thin Air, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

It may also get into water from runoff.

(Arsenic, Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry)

With its dense atmosphere, Titan has a methane cycle much like Earth's water cycle of evaporation, cloud formation, rainfall, surface runoff into rivers, and collection in lakes and seas.

(Cassini's Final View of Titan's Northern Lakes and Seas, NASA)

Urea is a common fertilizer, so it's present in runoff.

(Giant kelp switches diet when key nutrient becomes scarce, National Science Foundation)

New initiatives such as the Runoff Risk Advisory Forecast are designed to help farmers apply fertilizer at optimum times to limit nutrient runoff to the Gulf.

(Gulf of Mexico ‘dead zone’ is the largest ever measured, NOAA)

“Dead zones,” also called hypoxia areas, are caused by nutrient runoff from agricultural and other human activities in the watershed and are highly affected by river discharge and nitrogen loads.

(2015 Gulf of Mexico dead zone ‘above average’, NOAA)

Increased copper in the water can be a result of agricultural runoff or marine paint leaching from boat hulls.

(Sea fan corals face new threat in warming ocean: copper, National Science Foundation)

The study also found that the urban heat island effect, the phenomenon in which cities are warmer than their surroundings, is not the only culprit behind the shift, suggesting that other aspects of urbanization, such as pollution, changes in humidity and fertilizer runoff, may also influence plants' seasonal patterns.

(Urbanization delays spring plant growth in warm regions, National Science Foundation)