Definition

1. Verb (intransitive):
   • To flee or escape from a place, situation, or person: To leave quickly and secretly, often to avoid danger, capture, or an unpleasant circumstance.
   • To leave home, especially without permission or to elope: Often used when a child or young person departs their home, or when two people leave together to get married against others' wishes.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • The prisoner managed to run away from the guards.
  • When the fire alarm sounded, everyone ran away from the building.
  • The dog ran away after hearing the loud thunder.
  • At seventeen, she ran away to join the circus.

Advanced Usage

• "to run away from something": To avoid confronting a difficult problem, responsibility, or reality.
  • You can't just run away from your debts; you have to face them.
• "to run away with someone": To leave one's home or current life to be with a romantic partner, often secretly.
  • They ran away with each other and got married in Las Vegas.
• "to run away with an idea/a notion": To accept an idea too hastily or without sufficient thought; to let one's imagination exaggerate a situation.
  • Don't run away with the idea that this will be easy.

Variants and Related Words

• Runaway (noun/adjective): A person who has run away, especially a child. As an adjective, it describes something that is out of control or has escaped.
  • The police searched for the runaway teenager.
  • The movie was a runaway success.

Synonyms

• Flee: To run away from danger or a threat.
• Escape: To break free from confinement or control.
• Abscond: To leave hurriedly and secretly, typically to avoid detection or arrest.
• Bolt: To run away suddenly out of control.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Run off: Similar to "run away," often implying a sudden departure.
  • He ran off before I could ask his name.
• Clear out: To leave a place quickly.
  • We'd better clear out before the security guard comes.

Related Idioms

• Run for the hills: To flee or escape from something terrifying or dangerous.
  • When the market crashed, investors ran for the hills.
• Make a run for it: To attempt to escape by running.
  • When the guard looked away, the prisoners decided to make a run for it.

Verb

1. escape from the control of
   • Industry is running away with us all
2. flee; take to one's heels; cut and run
   • If you see this man, run!
   • The burglars escaped before the police showed up