RUNS AWAY Synonyms: 82 Similar and Opposite Words

runs away

verb

present tense third-person singular of run away

as in escapes

to get free from a dangerous or confining situation ran away from an unhappy marriage

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in retreats

to hasten away from something dangerous or frightening the child runs away from large dogs

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 runs away Musically gifted teenager Rokas, runs away from his mafia family to use music as a way to take revenge on his father, responsible for his mother’s death. — Annika Pham, Variety, 19 Oct. 2026 When Carla and Johnny get there, Gabe literally runs away from them, but Johnny tackles him. — Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 16 Oct. 2026 And when the guy is maybe 20 meters away, the cameraman packs up the camera and runs away. — Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 9 July 2026 The title refers to a story-fable about a horse that runs away, only to turn up at a time of crisis. — Hillel Italie, Fortune, 1 June 2026 Garcia runs away screaming toward a third officer and drops the stick before he’s pushed down into a bed of bushes growing along the street curb. — Ruben Vives, Los Angeles Times, 23 Apr. 2026 Best gets out of the vehicle, then runs away with police chasing after him. — Dave Collins, Hartford Courant, 12 Mar. 2026 In this delightfully science-minded historical fiction novel, one of the main characters runs away from her family to do astronomy while the other clocks up multiple major scientific expeditions under her belt. — Brianne Kane, Scientific American, 13 Feb. 2026 In this fluffy romance novel, burnt out pop star Amelia Rose runs away in the middle of the night to the Hallmark-worthy town of Rome. — Amanda Favazza, Southern Living, 6 Feb. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for runs away

Verb

In the book, a fictional AI escapes its lab, runs copies of itself on machines no one is watching, and eventually releases a virus over time.

— Catherina Gioino, Fortune, 27 Oct. 2026
Network-level protections provide another barrier if an agent escapes its initial sandbox.

— Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 23 Oct. 2026

Definition of escapes

Verb

Meanwhile, Mercury stations retrograde in Scorpio and Venus retreats into Libra, joining Saturn retrograde in Aries, Uranus in Gemini, and Neptune in Aries.

— Lisa Stardust, Vogue, 23 Oct. 2026
But even as the characters reflect at length on the virtue of putting themselves out there, their series too often retreats within itself instead.

— Angie Han, HollywoodReporter, 12 Oct. 2026

Definition of retreats

Verb

Jaros and Rauh calculate that the state will lose money so long as 24 percent of the tax base flees, a condition that’s already been met.

— Ramesh Ponnuru, Washington Post, 27 Oct. 2026
Moss flees across the Mexican border, hiding the money along the bank of the Rio Grande before winding up in a Mexican hospital.

— Frannie Comstock, Encyclopedia Britannica, 23 Oct. 2026

Definition of flees

Verb

The Great Pumpkin flies around the world leaving presents in pumpkin patches for his staunchest believers.

— Colin Fleming, Chicago Tribune, 30 Oct. 2026
Live flies landing on food such as tuna, cheese and chicken were cited at three of seven South Florida restaurants temporarily shut down last week.

— Kari Barnett, Sun Sentinel, 29 Oct. 2026

Definition of flies

Verb

Shadab completed his century by playing a late cut off Atkinson for his 12th boundary before hitting the fast bowler over long off for a six to reduce the target to three runs off the final three overs.

— ABC News, ABC News, 25 Oct. 2026
It's pulled this off by ditching the bulky battery that every other vest comes with, and runs off power from your phone instead.

— New Atlas, New Atlas, 22 Oct. 2026

Definition of runs off

Verb

Jeff Stotts, an athletic trainer who runs a site that tracks sports injuries, wrote that since 2005, just one player had sustained a torn labrum like Wallace’s and returned later that season.

— Andrew Greif, NBC news, 29 Oct. 2026
Brodeur, 51, of Sanford, runs a consulting firm, Anchor Consulting LLC, and was the previous president and CEO of the Seminole County Chamber.

— Martin E. Comas, The Orlando Sentinel, 29 Oct. 2026

Definition of runs

Verb

Then, the unit bolts to the van, becoming a secure load that happens to contain a full living suite.

— New Atlas, New Atlas, 20 Aug. 2026
When a company bolts AI on without building it into the way the company works, the company can end up paying a great deal of money for a capability its competitors already share.

— Mohamed Khater, Forbes.com, 20 Aug. 2026

Definition of bolts

Browse Nearby Words

runs amok

runs away

runs by

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“Runs away.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/runs%20away. Accessed 31 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of runs away

verb

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