Word.ws English Dictionary

run up the score

run up the score verb: to engage in the practice – usually by coaching decision – of scoring more points than needed in a one-sided contest.

Verb

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

  1. To engage in the practice – usually by coaching decision – of scoring more points than needed in a one-sided contest.
    • The old-school coach felt that his team's weak opponent had no business playing his strong team, so he decided to run up the score.

Forms of run up the score

third-person singular presentruns up the score
present participlerunning up the score
pastran up the score
past participlerun up the score

Questions about run up the score

What does run up the score mean?
Run up the score means to engage in the practice – usually by coaching decision – of scoring more points than needed in a one-sided contest.
What part of speech is run up the score?
Run up the score is a verb.
What is the past tense of run up the score?
The past tense of run up the score is ran up the score.

Words near run up the score in the dictionary

  1. run up
  2. run up against
  3. run up in
  4. run up in it
  5. run up on
  6. run up the score
  7. run upon sorts
  8. run ups
  9. run wild
  10. run with
  11. run with scissors

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: run up the score (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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