run-on
|run-on|
🇺🇸
/ˈrʌnˌɑn/
🇬🇧
/ˈrʌnˌɒn/
continue without stopping
Etymology
'run-on' is a compound formed from English elements: Old English 'rinnan' (to run) and Old English 'on' (on, upon), combined in Modern English to express continuing action or continuation without break.
'run' comes from Old English 'rinnan' (also Middle English 'rinnen'/'runnen') which developed into the modern verb 'run'; 'on' is from Old English 'on' and has remained largely unchanged; the compound 'run-on' arose in Modern English (notably in descriptive grammar contexts by the 19th–20th centuries).
Originally describing the action of running or continuing ('run' + 'on'), the compound came to be used nominally/adjectivally to label continuity without proper breaks (for example, 'run-on sentence') and related senses of continuing operation; in some contexts (e.g., banking) the related phrase 'run on' denotes a rapid, continuing withdrawal.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
a sentence in which two or more independent clauses are joined without proper punctuation or a coordinating conjunction (often called a 'run-on sentence').
The paper contained a long run-on that made the argument hard to follow.
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Verb 1
(related phrasal verb form) To continue without stopping; to keep operating or to continue speaking (see 'run on' as phrasal verb). Listed here as a related form of the compound 'run-on'.
The meeting seemed to run-on far longer than planned.
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Adjective 1
continuing without an appropriate break or pause; used especially to describe an incorrectly punctuated sentence (e.g., a run-on sentence).
She submitted a draft with several run-on paragraphs.
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Last updated: 2025/10/27 23:44