Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to run rampant

to run rampant

15 5.7
To spread quickly, get out of control, and cause harm
  • phrasal verb
  • /rʌn ˈræmpənt/
translation icon : proliferar
  • The nastiness that has been running rampant is disgusting, and you shouldn't need to deal with it.
  • speculation runs rampant
  • corruption runs rampant
  • disease runs rampant

Canaan is where Mammon ran rampant and came from.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • The new language will curtail some of the abusive practices that have run rampant in many neighborhood schools.

    Blog text (22)

  • Without justice, evil would have license to run rampant; without mercy, retribution for misdeeds would destroy the world.

    Academic text (1995)

  • Without you, evil is running rampant through the streets.

    Megamind (2010)

  • Death and disease and suffering ran rampant.

    Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)

  • Day after day... ...crime, lawlessness and evil are running rampant.

    The Powerpuff Girls Movie (2002)

  • With inflation running rampant, PC gaming has gotten out of reach for millions of people around the world.

  • Corruption is running rampant and we don't know who to trust.

    Black Dynamite (2009)

  • It's that time of the year when coughs and colds are running rampant.

    Blog text (20)

  • It was an Independence Day for the ages, as a bizarre disease ran rampant through this normally peaceful seaside community yesterday.

    Night of the Living Deb (2015)

  • In the city, homelessness is running rampant, leading to increased community concerns.

Synonyms

to overrun
vsto run rampant
38 4.8

Fill a place in large numbers and damage things

focuses more on uncontrolled growth and spreading beyond just occupying space
to run wild
vsto run rampant
33 3.9

Act without control or limits

adds a stronger sense of harmful spread or damage alongside that freedom
to run amok
vsto run rampant
20 7.5

To act wildly and cause chaos

covers similar chaos but also applies to spreading or growing harmfully
to spread like wildfire
vsto run rampant
  • Informal
11 3.0

To become known by many people very quickly

includes rapid spread but also behaviour that grows uncontrolled and harmful
to run riot
vsto run rampant
2 5.8

Behave in a wild way without control

includes that wild behaviour and also harmful spreading or growth
to go on the rampage
vsto run rampant
  • NSFW
1 7.5

To act violently and destroy things without control

is broader, covering both violent acts and nonviolent harmful spreading

Antonyms

to control
∞ 2.4

To have power over people, things, or situations

to restrain
86 4.6

Hold a person or thing so it cannot move freely

How Uncontrolled

to run rampant
15 5.7
to run wild
33 3.9
to grow
∞ 1.0
spread
89 2.5

Surface Forms

run rampant infinitive
ran rampant past
running rampant present participle
runs rampant third person singular
run rampant past participle

Morphology

run + rampant

The meaning is directly derivable from 'run' (to spread or move) combined with 'rampant' (existing or spreading uncontrollably); together they straightforwardly indicate something spreading or growing unchecked. This compositional pattern follows ordinary English usage (verb + adjective indicating state), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Run rampant comes from old pictures of animals running wild and sometimes standing on their back legs, a position called rampant. Those images show something 'out of control', so when problems or ideas run rampant today, they spread or behave in a wild, uncontrolled way.