🔄 Delaying action 🏃 A hectic time 🙄 Evasive or vague

runaround

7.7

Giving answers that avoid a clear solution and delay help

adjective
/ˈrʌnəˌraʊnd/

Informal

: evasivo

Whenever I asked for help, I only got runaround responses that never solved my problem.

Examples

Instead of a clear answer, she received a runaround reply that left her confused.
The customer was frustrated by the runaround attitude of the support team.
The customer service gave me the runaround.
Why do they always give the runaround?
The new guidelines only led to runaround explanations that didn't address our concerns.
When I tried to resolve my issue with the company, all I received were runaround answers that wasted my time.
His runaround remarks made it clear he did not want to engage in a meaningful discussion.

Synonyms

evasive

vsrunaround

25 7.3

Not giving a direct answer to hide the truth or avoid commitment

is more about being unhelpful and delaying action rather than hiding facts

Antonyms

straightforward answer

1 3.1

A clear, simple reply that is honest and easy to understand

How Helpful

help

∞ 1.0

runaround

Informal

7.7

stonewalling

Literature

7 8.2

Surface Forms

runaround positive

Morphology

runaround = run (opaque) = around + run

Although the word is built from the recognizable elements 'run' and 'around', the sense 'evasive or unhelpful delay' is idiomatic and not directly predictable from the component meanings. [Postprocessing: moved 'around' from base_words to prefix]

Etymology

Runaround comes from the picture of being sent to run 'to move quickly' around 'in circles' so you never get a straight answer. That's why a runaround reply or person is evasive and unhelpful.