Word.ws English Dictionary

ran the show

ran the show is the simple past of run the show.

Meaning of run the show

Verb

run the show (third-person singular simple present runs the show, present participle running the show, simple past ran the show, past participle run the show)

  1. (idiomatic) To be the leader, to be in charge.
    • "Far's I can see. Young Alf's made up his mind to learn the dentist business, and the old folks are backin' him; so I don't see but I've got to stop on and run the show. Father's gettin' up in years now."1904, Sara Jeannette Duncan, The Imperialist

Questions about ran the show

What is ran the show the simple past of?
Ran the show is the simple past of run the show.

Words near ran the show in the dictionary

  1. ran the gantlope
  2. ran the gauntlet
  3. ran the gauntlope
  4. ran the risk
  5. ran the rule over
  6. ran the show
  7. ran the table
  8. ran the whole show
  9. ran thin
  10. ran through
  11. ran to

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ran the show (page history and authors); run the show (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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