Word.ws English Dictionary

run on fumes

run on fumes verb: to operate a vehicle that is low on fuel.

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
    • The organization had been running on fumes for months, so it's not surprising that they closed their doors.

Synonyms of run on fumes

Forms of run on fumes

third-person singular presentruns on fumes
present participlerunning on fumes
pastran on fumes
past participlerun on fumes

Words formed from run on fumes

Questions about run on fumes

What does run on fumes mean?
Run on fumes means to operate a vehicle that is low on fuel.
What part of speech is run on fumes?
Run on fumes is a verb.
What is the past tense of run on fumes?
The past tense of run on fumes is ran on fumes.

Words near run on fumes in the dictionary

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

Source and license

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

Cite this entry: “run on fumes.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/run_on_fumes. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.