run around

English · Thesaurus

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

run around

verb runs around · running around · ran around · run around

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.
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.[…]”
of a locomotive To move from one end of the consist to the other, so as to pull the train in the opposite direction.
slang To cheat; to be unfaithful to a romantic partner.
of a forehand or a backhand 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.
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see run, around. The children ran around in the playground.
Similar: run about

noun run arounds

alternative Alternative form of runaround Natrum sulp. is my specific for inflammations of the matrix of the nails or " run arounds."
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see run, around. We let the dog off the lead so it could have a run around.

Translations

Every language

verb to be very busy

中文	忙碌 mánglù, 奔忙 bēnmáng
Français	courir partout

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"run around." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/run%20around. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

run around. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/run%20around

Chicago

"run around." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/run%20around.

BibTeX

@misc{run_around_2026,
  title = {run around},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/run%20around},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}