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Glite Dictionary
to run scared

to run scared

14 5.7
Act in a nervous way because you are afraid or feel pressure
  • phrasal verb
  • Informal
translation icon : acobardarse
  • After the shocking news, she started to run scared and couldn't focus on her work.
  • got you running scared
  • go running scared
  • running scared now

Examples

  • Our Jane has them running scared, I guess.

    Blog text (28)

  • You were running scared and blind like the rest of us.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • -It's better than running scared for the next 18 minutes.

    Slashers (2001)

  • The rest of us were running scared.

    King Kong (1933)

  • The national media were in a frenzy, and the government was running scared.

    Academic text (2010)

  • The math quiz begins, and I am running scared.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • So will the Prime Minister commit today to take part in those three-way debates or is he going to run scared of debating?

  • The type of change that has Republican conservatives, tea partiers, and racists running scared.

    Blog text (7)

  • They're all running scared!

    Monsters vs Aliens (2009)

  • Now we're dominating so thoroughly that the left is running scared—literally.

    Blog text (22)

Synonyms

to act squirrelly
vsto run scared
  • Informal
1 8.9

Behave in a strange, nervous, or unpredictable way

is anxious and nervous rather than simply odd or unpredictable
to run up the walls
vsto run scared
  • UK
8.2

To feel very worried and unable to relax

is milder anxious behavior in response to fear or pressure
to bug-out
vsto run scared
  • Slang
8.8

To react suddenly with fear and lose control

is anxious but without sudden panic or loss of control

How Anxious

to freak out
  • Informal
430 6.8
to panic
272 2.3
to run scared
  • Informal
14 5.7
to keep one's cool
  • Informal
30 3.4

Surface Forms

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

Morphology

run + scared

The sense of behaving from fear is clearly signalled by the constituents 'run' (move/act as if fleeing) and 'scared' (fearful), so a learner can grasp a basic meaning such as ‘act because of fear’. However, the phrase is a metaphorical/idiomatic extension (not literal running) and its precise nuance of ‘acting nervously or defensively under pressure’ may not be fully predictable without exposure, so it is only partially transparent.

Etymology

Run scared creates the image of someone who has to run because they are scared, trying to get away from danger. So when people or groups 'run scared' today, they 'act nervously' or make quick choices because they are afraid or under pressure.