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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
Articles Related to run-on sentence
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 31 Oct. 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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