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Glite Dictionary
to get the runaround

to get the runaround

3 8.3
To receive unclear answers from a company or official when you ask for help
  • phrasal verb
  • /ɡɛt ðə ˈrʌnəˌraʊnd/
  • Informal
: recibir evasivas
  • After multiple attempts to get answers, I feel like I am just getting the runaround.
  • get the runaround
  • given the runaround
  • tired of getting the runaround

Examples

  • I'm sorry your school and district are giving you the runaround.

    Blog text (4)

  • We were tired of getting the runaround from the insurance company about our claim.

  • I kept getting the runaround.

    She Hate Me (2004)

  • So why was she giving me the runaround?

    Blog text (17)

  • I was getting the runaround from my clinic again about a "missing test."

    Blog text (2)

  • And, frankly, I'm tired of getting the runaround.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • We've been getting the runaround.

    Gridlock'd (1997)

  • "We were given the runaround," Quintero said.

    Blog text (27)

  • But he was fed up with being given the runaround; he'd entered into a straightforward business arrangement, and he intended to see it through to a contract, no matter what games Yuri wanted to play.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • Every time I called the customer service, I just got the runaround instead of help.

Antonyms

to direct
239 1.6

To tell someone what to do or show them the way

straightforward answer
2 3.1

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

How Evasive

to stonewall
  • Literature
33 7.8
to get the runaround
  • Informal
3 8.3
to blockade
4 6.1

Surface Forms

get the runaround infinitive
getting the runaround present participle
gets the runaround third person singular
got the runaround past
got the runaround past participle

Morphology

get + the + runaround

There is a visible connection between the parts — 'get' (receive) plus the image of being 'run around' — so the phrase evokes receiving evasive treatment, but the specific meaning 'to be given misleading or noncommittal answers' is a metaphorical, lexicalized sense of 'runaround' that is not fully predictable from the constituents alone. A B1 learner who only knows the literal words would likely find the meaning partially inferable but would usually need prior exposure to grasp the idiomatic nuance.

Etymology

The phrase get the runaround gives the image of a person being sent on a runaround, moved from desk to desk and made to go in circles while no one helps them. That's why it means 'to be given no clear answer or real help'.