Word.ws English Dictionary

gives someone the runaround

gives someone the runaround is the third-person singular simple present indicative 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 gives someone the runaround

What is gives someone the runaround the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Gives someone the runaround is the third-person singular simple present indicative of give someone the runaround.

Words near gives someone the runaround in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gives 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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