Word.ws English Dictionary

run someone ragged

Syllables: run some·one rag·gedUK/ˈɹʌn ˌsʌmwʌn ˈɹæɡɪd/

run someone ragged verb: to exhaust; to demand excessive effort or work from somebody.

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic) To exhaust; to demand excessive effort or work from somebody.
    • They’ve been running him ragged trying to keep up with the demand for new features.
    • A little man by modern-day goon-basketball standards, the five-foot ten-inch speedster [Ralph Beard] handles bigger opponents by running them ragged.1950 January, Stanley Pashko, “Scanning the Sports Scene”, in Irving Crump, editor, Boys’ Life: The Magazine for All Boys, volume XL, number 1, New York, N.Y.: Boy Scouts of America, →OCLC, page 16...

Synonyms of run someone ragged

6 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Forms of run someone ragged

third-person singular presentruns someone ragged
present participlerunning someone ragged
pastran someone ragged
past participlerun someone ragged

Origin of run someone ragged

From run + ragged (“exhausted, tired, run down”).

Words that rhyme with run someone ragged

Questions about run someone ragged

What does run someone ragged mean?
Run someone ragged means to exhaust; to demand excessive effort or work from somebody.
What part of speech is run someone ragged?
Run someone ragged is a verb.
How do you pronounce run someone ragged?
Run someone ragged is pronounced /ˈɹʌn ˌsʌmwʌn ˈɹæɡɪd/ (UK).
What is the past tense of run someone ragged?
The past tense of run someone ragged is ran someone ragged.

Words near run someone ragged in the dictionary

  1. run sheep run
  2. run sheet
  3. run sheets
  4. run short
  5. run someone off their feet
  6. run someone ragged
  7. run someone's file
  8. run something up the flagpole
  9. run tee
  10. run tees
  11. run the clock down

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: run someone ragged (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 someone ragged.ogg.

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