🔄 Delaying action 🏃 A hectic time 🙄 Evasive or vague

runaround

1 4.2

A time of busy activity moving around to get things done

noun
/ˈrʌnəˌraʊnd/

Informal

: ajetreo

I have ICBC and had to go through the runaround just to get things working for that bank.

Examples

-The runaround, the business.

The Story of Seabiscuit (1949)
What that runaround meant was,

Blog text (2)
To avoid the usual runaround, she decided to book an appointment in advance.
After a frustrating day filled with runaround, he finally completed all the necessary errands.
The customer had to endure a lot of runaround before finding the right department to help.

Antonyms

leisure

100 1.3

Time not spent working when you can relax or do things you enjoy

calm

52 1.0

A quiet, peaceful feeling that helps you stay steady

How Busy

rush

518 1.8

bustle

20 4.1

runaround

Informal

1 4.2

activity

362 1.1

downtime

Specialized

46 4.1

Surface Forms

runaround singular

runarounds plural

Morphology

runaround = run (transparent) = around + run

The noun sense 'period of busy activity' is a straightforward compound from 'run' + 'around' referring to moving about to get things done. [Postprocessing: moved 'around' from base_words to prefix]

Etymology

Runaround as a noun comes from the idea of run 'to move quickly' and around 'in many places', like 'running around' to do errands, so it means a busy, very active period of moving from place to place.