run-on sentence

noun

: a sentence containing two or more clauses not connected by the correct conjunction or punctuation

Examples of run-on sentence in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Apparently my run-on sentence post last week appeared even more ranty than usual. Paul Daugherty, Cincinnati.com, 18 June 2020 In between, students laid out pages, rejiggered run-on sentences and tweaked photo captions. Hannah Natanson, Washington Post, 3 Apr. 2020 The narrator lives in a country whose mythic propositions hang in the same limbo as her run-on sentence. Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 6 Sep. 2019 Lucy Ellmann’s eighth novel — 1,000 pages long and primarily composed of run-on sentences — is an experimental narrative that probes the anxieties of life in contemporary America. Annabel Gutterman, Time, 30 Aug. 2019 Great thickets of verbiage tumble forth as Virgil Abloh thinks out loud in long, run-on sentences—often doubling back to critique himself or to add further thoughts or rephrase. Jonathan Van Meter, Vogue, 14 May 2019 For those of us who make a habit of investing our allegiance in underdogs, then, the World Cup often reads like an interminable, run-on sentence of tragedy, loosely punctuated with eruptions of joy. Kanishk Tharoor, The Atlantic, 14 July 2018 Four paragraphs of run-on sentences are usually a clue. The Cut, 17 June 2018 Each room has its own character, so the house isn't one continuous run-on sentence. Lisa Cregan, House Beautiful, 30 Mar. 2015

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'run-on sentence.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1914, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of run-on sentence was in 1914

Dictionary Entries Near run-on sentence

Cite this Entry

“Run-on sentence.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/run-on%20sentence. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

run-on sentence

noun
: a sentence formed from two or more sentences improperly joined (as "I didn't see the red light, officer, I was looking the other way")
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