English Meaning & Definitions
In a poor or neglected state, often referring to buildings or neighborhoods; also used to describe a person who is tired or slightly unwell.
- “The hotel was situated in a run-down part of the city.”
- “She felt exhausted and run down after working double shifts all week.”
A brief summary or report of the main points of a situation or piece of information.
- “Can you give me a quick run down of what happened in the meeting?”
- “The news anchor provided a run down of the day's top stories.”
To criticize someone or something unfairly; to lose power or stop working; or to hit someone with a vehicle.
- “He's always running down his wife's cooking in front of guests.”
- “The battery in my laptop has run down completely.”
- “The pedestrian was nearly run down by a bus that skipped the red light.”
English Synonyms & Near Equivalents
Comprehensive Thesaurus Breakdown
Compare formal, informal, literary synonyms and register nuances for “run down”.
The term originates from the mechanics of clockwork. In the 18th century, a clock would 'run down' as its spring unwound and lost the tension required to power the gears. This literal sense of losing energy or stopping eventually expanded to describe physical exhaustion in humans, the deterioration of buildings, and the act of summarizing information by 'running' through a list to the bottom.
Think of a wind-up toy that stops moving—it has run down.
Frequently Asked Questions About “run down”
1. What is the meaning of “run down” in English?
In English, run down (adjective) is defined as: “In a poor or neglected state, often referring to buildings or neighborhoods; also used to describe a person who is tired or slightly unwell.”.
2. How do you use “run down” in a sentence?
“The hotel was situated in a run-down part of the city.”
3. What are English synonyms of “run down”?
4. What is the etymology and word origin of “run down”?
The term originates from the mechanics of clockwork. In the 18th century, a clock would 'run down' as its spring unwound and lost the tension required to power the gears. This literal sense of losing energy or stopping eventually expanded to describe physical exhaustion in humans, the deterioration of buildings, and the act of summarizing information by 'running' through a list to the bottom.
🇬🇧More English Words to English
View all English words →The base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), equal to the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium-133 atom.
A specific duration of time equal to one hour and forty-six minutes and twelve seconds.
The cardinal number equal to one thousand million (1,000,000,000), expressed in scientific notation as 10^9.
A specific duration of time equivalent to one hour and forty-six minutes.