Word.ws English Dictionary

ran on fumes

ran on fumes is the simple past of run on fumes.

Meaning of run on fumes

Verb

run on fumes (third-person singular simple present runs on fumes, present participle running on fumes, simple past ran on fumes, past participle run on fumes)

  1. To operate a vehicle that is low on fuel.
    • We were running on fumes by the time we arrived, but we made it to the next gas station.
  2. (broadly, figuratively) To operate with few resources, or be physically or emotionally overworked.
    • Near-synonyms: run on empty, run out of steam

Questions about ran on fumes

What is ran on fumes the simple past of?
Ran on fumes is the simple past of run on fumes.

Words near ran on fumes in the dictionary

  1. ran off one's mouth
  2. ran off the tongue
  3. ran off with
  4. ran on
  5. ran on empty
  6. ran on fumes
  7. ran one on
  8. ran one's face
  9. ran one's mouth
  10. ran one's mouth off
  11. ran one's name

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ran on fumes (page history and authors); run on fumes (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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