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Run can be an adjective, a noun or a verb.

run used as an adjective:

  1. In a liquid state; melted; molten.
    "Put some run butter on the vegetables."
  2. Exhausted; depleted (especially with "down" or "out".)

Adjectives are are describing words. An adjective is a word that modifies a noun or pronoun (examples: small, scary, silly). Adjectives make the meaning of a noun more precise. Learn more →

run used as a noun:

  1. The act of running.
    "I just got back from my run."
  2. The route taken while running.
    "Which run did you do today?"
  3. A flow of liquid; a leak.
    "The constant run of water from the faucet annoys me."
  4. A small creek or part thereof.
  5. The amount of something made.
    "The book’s initial press run will be 5,000 copies."
  6. The top of a step on a staircase, also called a tread, as opposed to the rise.
  7. A production quantity in a factory.
    "Yesterday we did a run of 12,000 units."
  8. A pace faster than a walk.
    "He broke into a run."
  9. A fast gallop.
  10. An interval of distance or time, a period marked by a continuing trend.
    "He went to Las Vegas and spent all his money over a three-day run."
  11. A series of tries in a game that were successful.
  12. A regular trip or route.
    "The bus on the Cherry Street run is always crowded."
  13. A standard or unexceptional group or category.
    "He stood out from the usual run of applicants."
  14. An enclosure for an animal; a track or path along which something can travel.
    "He set up a rabbit run."
  15. An errand or the journey associated with an errand.
    "I need to make a run to the store."
  16. A pleasure trip.
    "Let's go for a run in the car."
  17. A single trip down a hill, as in skiing and bobsledding.
  18. A point scored in baseball and cricket.
  19. A rapid passage in music, especially along a scale.
  20. A sequence of cards in a suit in a card game.
  21. A sudden series of demands on a bank or other financial institution, especially characterised by great withdrawals.
    "Financial insecurity led to a run on the banks, as customers feared for the security of their savings."
  22. Any sudden large demand for something.
    "There was a run on Christmas presents."
  23. Unrestricted use of an area.
    "He can have the run of the house."
  24. Stockings with a run in them (sense 24) A line of knit stitches that has unravelled, particularly in a nylon stocking.
    "I have a run in my stocking."
  25. The stern of the underwater body of a ship from where it begins to curve upward and inward.
  26. horizontal dimension of a slope.

Nouns are naming words. They are used to represent a person (soldier, Jamie), place (Germany, beach), thing (telephone, mirror), quality (hardness, courage), or an action (a run, a punch). Learn more →

run used as a verb:

  1. To move forward quickly upon two feet by alternately making a short jump off of either foot, compare: walk.
    "Run, Sarah, run!"
  2. To go at a fast pace, to move quickly.
    "The horse ran the length of the track."
  3. To move or spread quickly.
    "There's a strange story running around the neighborhood."
  4. To cause to move quickly; to make move lightly.
    "Every day I run my dog across the field and back."
  5. To control or manage, be in charge of.
    "My uncle ran a corner store for forty years."
  6. Of a liquid, to flow.
    "The river runs through the forest."
  7. Of an object, to have a liquid flowing from it.
    "Your nose is running."
  8. To make a liquid flow; to make liquid flow from an object.
    "You'll have to run the water a while before it gets hot."
  9. To extend in space or through a range of possibilities (often with a measure phrase).
    "The border runs for 3000 miles."
  10. To extend in time, to last, to continue (usually with a measure phrase).
    "The sale will run for ten days."
  11. To make something extend in space.
    "I need to run this wire along the wall."
  12. Of a machine, including computer programs, to be operating or working normally.
    "My car stopped running."
  13. To make a machine operate.
    "It's full. You can run the dishwasher now."
  14. To execute or carry out a plan, procedure or program.
    "They ran twenty blood tests on me and they still don't know what's wrong."
  15. To compete in a race.
    "The horse will run the Preakness next year."
  16. To be a candidate in an election.
    "I have decided to run for governor of California."
  17. To make run in a race or an election.
    "He ran his best horse in the Derby."
  18. To be offered in one of the media.
    "The story will run on the 6-o'clock news."
  19. To print or broadcast in the media.
    "run a story"
  20. To leak or spread in an undesirable fashion , to bleed (especially used of dye or paint).
    "He discovered during washing that the red rug ran on his white sheet, staining it pink."
  21. To become different in a way mentioned (usually to become worse).
    "Our supplies are running low."
  22. To go through without stopping, usually illegally.
    "run a red light or stop sign"
  23. To transport someone or something.
    "Could you run me over to the store?"
  24. To smuggle illegal goods.
    "run guns"
  25. To cost a large amount of money.
    "Buying a new laptop will run you a thousand dollars."
  26. Of fish, to migrate for spawning.
  27. To carry a football down the field.
  28. Of stitches, to unravel.
    "My stocking is running."
  29. To flee away from a danger or towards help.
    "Whenever things get tough, she cuts and runs."
  30. To sort through a large volume of produce in quality control.
    "Looks like we're gonna have to run the tomatoes again."
  31. To control or have precedence in a card game.
    "Every three or four hands he would run the table."

Verbs are action words and state of being words. Examples of action words are: ran, attacking, dreamed. Examples of "state of being" words are: is, was, be. Learn more →

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What type of word is run?

As detailed above, 'run' can be an adjective, a noun or a verb. Here are some examples of its usage:
  1. Adjective usage: Put some run butter on the vegetables.
  2. Noun usage: I just got back from my run.
  3. Noun usage: Which run did you do today?
  4. Noun usage: The constant run of water from the faucet annoys me.
  5. Noun usage: The book’s initial press run will be 5,000 copies.
  6. Noun usage: The run of the show lasted two weeks, and we sold out every night.
  7. Noun usage: Yesterday we did a run of 12,000 units.
  8. Noun usage: He broke into a run.
  9. Noun usage: He went to Las Vegas and spent all his money over a three-day run.
  10. Noun usage: I’m having a run of bad luck.
  11. Noun usage: The bus on the Cherry Street run is always crowded.
  12. Noun usage: He stood out from the usual run of applicants.
  13. Noun usage: He set up a rabbit run.
  14. Noun usage: I need to make a run to the store.
  15. Noun usage: Let's go for a run in the car.
  16. Noun usage: Financial insecurity led to a run on the banks, as customers feared for the security of their savings.
  17. Noun usage: There was a run on Christmas presents.
  18. Noun usage: He can have the run of the house.
  19. Noun usage: I have a run in my stocking.
  20. Verb usage: Run, Sarah, run!
  21. Verb usage: The horse ran the length of the track.
  22. Verb usage: I have been running all over the building looking for him.
  23. Verb usage: Sorry, I've got to run; my house is on fire.
  24. Verb usage: There's a strange story running around the neighborhood.
  25. Verb usage: The flu is running through my daughter's kindergarten.
  26. Verb usage: Every day I run my dog across the field and back.
  27. Verb usage: I'll just run the vacuum cleaner over the carpet.
  28. Verb usage: Run your fingers through my hair.
  29. Verb usage: My uncle ran a corner store for forty years.
  30. Verb usage: She runs the fundraising.
  31. Verb usage: My parents think they run my life.
  32. Verb usage: The river runs through the forest.
  33. Verb usage: There's blood running down your leg.
  34. Verb usage: Your nose is running.
  35. Verb usage: Why is the hose still running?
  36. Verb usage: My cup runneth over.
  37. Verb usage: You'll have to run the water a while before it gets hot.
  38. Verb usage: Run the tap until the water gets hot.
  39. Verb usage: The border runs for 3000 miles.
  40. Verb usage: The leash runs along a wire.
  41. Verb usage: The grain of the wood runs to the right on this table.
  42. Verb usage: It ran in quality from excellent to substandard.
  43. Verb usage: The sale will run for ten days.
  44. Verb usage: The contract runs through 2008.
  45. Verb usage: The meeting ran late.
  46. Verb usage: The book runs 655 pages.
  47. Verb usage: The speech runs as follows:...
  48. Verb usage: I need to run this wire along the wall.
  49. Verb usage: My car stopped running.
  50. Verb usage: That computer runs twenty-four hours a day.
  51. Verb usage: Buses don't run here on Sunday.
  52. Verb usage: It's full. You can run the dishwasher now.
  53. Verb usage: Don't run the engine so fast.
  54. Verb usage: They ran twenty blood tests on me and they still don't know what's wrong.
  55. Verb usage: Our coach had us running plays for the whole practice.
  56. Verb usage: I will run the sample.
  57. Verb usage: Don't run that software unless you have permission.
  58. Verb usage: My computer is too old to run the new OS.
  59. Verb usage: The horse will run the Preakness next year.
  60. Verb usage: I'm not ready to run a marathon.
  61. Verb usage: I have decided to run for governor of California.
  62. Verb usage: We're trying to find somebody to run against him next year.
  63. Verb usage: He ran his best horse in the Derby.
  64. Verb usage: The Green Party is running twenty candidates in this election.
  65. Verb usage: The story will run on the 6-o'clock news.
  66. Verb usage: The latest Robin Williams movie is running at the Silver City theatre.
  67. Verb usage: Her picture ran on the front page of the newspaper.
  68. Verb usage: run a story
  69. Verb usage: run an ad
  70. Verb usage: He discovered during washing that the red rug ran on his white sheet, staining it pink.
  71. Verb usage: Our supplies are running low.
  72. Verb usage: "I was no more than a boy / In the company of strangers / In the quiet of the railway station / Running scared." - Paul Simon: Boxer
  73. Verb usage: run a red light or stop sign
  74. Verb usage: run a blockade
  75. Verb usage: Could you run me over to the store?
  76. Verb usage: Please run this report upstairs to director's office.
  77. Verb usage: run guns
  78. Verb usage: run rum
  79. Verb usage: Buying a new laptop will run you a thousand dollars.
  80. Verb usage: My stocking is running.
  81. Verb usage: Whenever things get tough, she cuts and runs.
  82. Verb usage: When he's broke, he runs to me for money.
  83. Verb usage: Looks like we're gonna have to run the tomatoes again.
  84. Verb usage: Every three or four hands he would run the table.

Unfortunately, with the current database that runs this site, I don't have data about which senses of run are used most commonly. I've got ideas about how to fix this but will need to find a source of "sense" frequencies. Hopefully there's enough info above to help you understand the part of speech of run, and guess at its most common usage.

Word Type

For those interested in a little info about this site: it's a side project that I developed while working on Describing Words and Related Words. Both of those projects are based around words, but have much grander goals. I had an idea for a website that simply explains the word types of the words that you search for - just like a dictionary, but focussed on the part of speech of the words. And since I already had a lot of the infrastructure in place from the other two sites, I figured it wouldn't be too much more work to get this up and running.

The dictionary is based on the amazing Wiktionary project by wikimedia. I initially started with WordNet, but then realised that it was missing many types of words/lemma (determiners, pronouns, abbreviations, and many more). This caused me to investigate the 1913 edition of Websters Dictionary - which is now in the public domain. However, after a day's work wrangling it into a database I realised that there were far too many errors (especially with the part-of-speech tagging) for it to be viable for Word Type.

Finally, I went back to Wiktionary - which I already knew about, but had been avoiding because it's not properly structured for parsing. That's when I stumbled across the UBY project - an amazing project which needs more recognition. The researchers have parsed the whole of Wiktionary and other sources, and compiled everything into a single unified resource. I simply extracted the Wiktionary entries and threw them into this interface! So it took a little more work than expected, but I'm happy I kept at it after the first couple of blunders.

Special thanks to the contributors of the open-source code that was used in this project: the UBY project (mentioned above), @mongodb and express.js.

Currently, this is based on a version of wiktionary which is a few years old. I plan to update it to a newer version soon and that update should bring in a bunch of new word senses for many words (or more accurately, lemma).

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