Word.ws English Dictionary

run hot and cold

run hot and cold verb: to alternate between two opposite extremes, such as enthusiasm and disinterest or success and failure.

Verb

run hot and cold (third-person singular simple present runs hot and cold, present participle running hot and cold, simple past ran hot and cold, past participle run hot and cold)

  1. (idiomatic) To alternate between two opposite extremes, such as enthusiasm and disinterest or success and failure.
    • Henrietta's feelings for Delbert run hot and cold—one minute she's hopelessly in love with him, and the next she can't stand the sight of him.
    • The business runs hot and cold; some months our firm doesn't earn enough to cover expenses and other months, we net 400% profits.

Synonyms of run hot and cold

Forms of run hot and cold

third-person singular presentruns hot and cold
present participlerunning hot and cold
pastran hot and cold
past participlerun hot and cold

Questions about run hot and cold

What does run hot and cold mean?
Run hot and cold means to alternate between two opposite extremes, such as enthusiasm and disinterest or success and failure.
What part of speech is run hot and cold?
Run hot and cold is a verb.
What is the past tense of run hot and cold?
The past tense of run hot and cold is ran hot and cold.

Words near run hot and cold in the dictionary

  1. run game on
  2. run games
  3. run hands
  4. run high
  5. run hot
  6. run hot and cold
  7. run in
  8. run in circles
  9. run in the family
  10. run in with
  11. run ins

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: run hot and cold (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 hot and cold.ogg.

Cite this entry: “run hot and cold.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/run_hot_and_cold. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.