Word.ws English Dictionary

run around

run around verb: to be very busy doing many different things. Also the alternative form of runaround.

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To be very busy doing many different things.
    • I don't want to run around all week getting everything ready for the holidays.
  2. (idiomatic, intransitive) To go from place to place.
    • “A very welcome, kind, useful present, that means to the parish. By the way, Hopkins, let this go no further. We don't want the tale running round that a rich person has arrived. Churchill, my dear fellow, we have such greedy sharks, and wolves in lamb's clothing.[…]”1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
  3. To move from one end of the consist to the other, so as to pull the train in the opposite direction.
  4. (slang) To cheat; to be unfaithful to a romantic partner.
  5. To change one's position on the court to hit a forehand rather than a backhand, or vice versa.
    • He'd gotten into tremendous shape so that he could run around his backhand and avoid hitting it altogether. He even tried a left-handed forehand. That was how desperate he was.2006, Greg Moran, Tennis Beyond Big Shots, →ISBN, page 71
  6. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see run, around.
    • The children ran around in the playground.
    Synonyms:
    run about

Noun

run around (plural run arounds)

  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see run, around.
    • We let the dog off the lead so it could have a run around.

Also used as

run around is also the alternative form of runaround.

Synonyms of run around

Forms of run around

Verb
third-person singular presentruns around
present participlerunning around
pastran around
past participlerun around
Noun
pluralrun arounds

Words formed from run around

Questions about run around

What does run around mean?
Run around means to be very busy doing many different things.
What part of speech is run around?
Run around can be a verb or a noun.
What is the past tense of run around?
The past tense of run around is ran around.

Words near run around in the dictionary

  1. run an errand
  2. run and gun
  3. run and gunned
  4. run and repeat
  5. run and repeated
  6. run around
  7. run around after
  8. run around in circles
  9. run around like a chicken with its head cut off
  10. run around with
  11. run around with one's hair on fire

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: run around (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-run around.ogg.

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