Word.ws English Dictionary

given someone the runaround

given someone the runaround is the past participle of give someone the runaround.

Meaning of give someone the runaround

Verb

give someone the runaround (third-person singular simple present gives someone the runaround, present participle giving someone the runaround, simple past gave someone the runaround, past participle given someone the runaround)

  1. (idiomatic) To delay, dodge, or frustrate (someone), especially by providing useless information or directions.
    • Deitch decided seven years ago that she wanted to film a lesbian love story. When major producers gave her the run-around, she formed her own production company, hustled for backers and gathered the right crew of technicians and actors to make it happen.1986 April 19, Loie Hayes, Donna Deitch, “Leapin' Lesbians!”, in Gay Community News, page 8

Questions about given someone the runaround

What is given someone the runaround the past participle of?
Given someone the runaround is the past participle of give someone the runaround.

Words near given someone the runaround in the dictionary

  1. given someone the creeps
  2. given someone the eye
  3. given someone the gears
  4. given someone the heave-ho
  5. given someone the old heave-ho
  6. given someone the runaround
  7. given someone the shits
  8. given someone the slip
  9. given someone the time
  10. given someone their cards
  11. given someone their flowers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: given someone the runaround (page history and authors); give someone the runaround (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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