run off 1 of 2

verb

Definition of run offnext
1
as in to out
to drive or force out the dog often ran off cats and other animals that had intruded upon his owner's property

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to escape
to get free from a dangerous or confining situation their rebellious daughter's run off because she was disciplined again

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in to retreat
to hasten away from something dangerous or frightening the mouse ran off as soon as it saw us

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

runoff

2 of 2

noun

as in fresh

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of run off
Verb
The passage about the group of hippies going out to the pueblo and giving the Native kids LSD and hooking up on the tribe’s sacred ground until they get run off is priceless. — Maggie McGowan, The New York Review of Books, 5 Sep. 2026 After studying the ins and outs of a 1976 Beirut bank heist where guerrillas ran off with more than $20 million cash, Maro figures, why not us? — Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 4 Sep. 2026
Noun
In France, the far-right Rassemblement National is looking to the 2027 presidential race with its candidate, Marine Le Pen, having perhaps her strongest chance yet of winning after reaching the runoff in 2017 and 2022. — Erik Kirschbaum, Los Angeles Times, 5 Sep. 2026 The message is proving to be popular with voters, and polls indicate Melenchon is headed for a runoff with far-right leader Marine ​Le Pen in next year’s presidential election. — Jason Ma, Fortune, 5 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for run off
Recent Examples of Synonyms for run off
  1. out
  2. escape
  3. retreat
  4. fresh
  5. eject
  6. flee
  7. fly
  8. freshet
Verb
  • At first the killer is revealed to be Miss Scarlet (Lesley Ann Warren), and Wadsworth outs himself as FBI.
    — Bethy Squires, Vulture, 2 Sep. 2026
  • Co-owner John Mara is battling cancer, and co-owner Steve Tisch is laying low after being outed in the Epstein Files.
    — Pat Leonard, New York Daily News, 22 Aug. 2026
Definition of out
Verb
  • Smith, too, struggled to escape the clutches of a Burnley defence that saw Hjalmar Ekdal replace the tiring Igor midway through the second half.
    — Richard Sutcliffe, New York Times, 9 Sep. 2026
  • Thieves broke into a museum devoted to the work of Pierre-Auguste Renoir in the South of France early this morning, making off with four paintings by the French Impressionist before dropping two in the garden in their haste to escape.
    — News Desk, Artforum, 8 Sep. 2026
Definition of escape
Verb
  • Officials say people who encounter a wolf should not run, but rather make noises, maintain eye contact and retreat slowly.
    — Queenie Wong, Los Angeles Times, 5 Sep. 2026
  • There was television, which, starting in the nineteen-fifties, kept kids indoors; also, houses got a lot bigger, and families smaller, so that most kids suddenly had the option of retreating to their own bedrooms.
    — Joshua Rothman, New Yorker, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of retreat
Noun
  • How To Remove Lingering Odors or Mildew Smells To tackle lingering odors or mildew smells, try adding one cup of white vinegar to the wash cycle, which helps break down odor-causing bacteria and leaves your bath mat smelling fresh.
    — Daley Quinn, Southern Living, 4 Sep. 2026
  • The company’s first non-Finnish CEO, Stephen Elop (a Canadian fresh off a two-year stint on Microsoft’s leadership team), did not mince words.
    — IEEE Spectrum, IEEE Spectrum, 13 July 2026
Definition of fresh
Verb
  • Oli Marmol was later ejected after sticking up for Rincon, who was making his MLB debut.
    — Brendan Kuty, New York Times, 6 Sep. 2026
  • Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol argued with plate umpire Doug Eddings and was ejected.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 5 Sep. 2026
Definition of eject
Verb
  • Lyle’s status has been in limbo since he was arrested in mid-August on a warrant stemming from charges for aggressively fleeing and eluding a law enforcement officer and reckless driving in mid-July.
    — Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 7 Sep. 2026
  • Many Muslim Americans hid or fled; between 2002 and 2003, thirteen thousand faced deportation proceedings.
    — Jill Lepore, New Yorker, 6 Sep. 2026
Definition of flee
Verb
  • Trump said on social media alongside a photo of former President Dwight Eisenhower, who was the first president to fly in a helicopter.
    — Carter Schroppe, The Washington Examiner, 7 Sep. 2026
  • At about midnight, the mayflies stopped flying and the fish disappeared.
    — Bryan Hendricks, Arkansas Online, 6 Sep. 2026
Definition of fly
Noun
  • The Hudson River had a little current, fed by freshets from upstream with local rains, and melting snow farther up, in the Adirondacks.
    — Ian Frazier, The New Yorker, 6 Apr. 2020
  • As August turned to September, the sun dropped and the first cold freshet of autumn rainwater flowed out of the mountains and tickled the noses of the salmon waiting off Astoria, where the Columbia meets the Pacific Ocean.
    — Patrick Symmes, Harper's magazine, 28 Oct. 2019
Definition of freshet

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Cite this Entry

“Run off.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/run%20off. Accessed 13 Sep. 2026.

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