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Glite Dictionary
to run roughshod

to run roughshod

6 8.4
To act without care for other people or their rights
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : pisotear
  • There is a difference between letting business run roughshod over everything and being conservative.
  • run roughshod over rights

It means letting the status quo remain and allowing the toxic person to run roughshod and for the enablers to remain enabling.

Examples

  • The religious right's vision is one where an individual's religious faith allows him or her to run roughshod over the rights of others.

    Academic text (2009)

  • Without it, the majority party could run roughshod over the poor, helpless minority party.

    Blog text (28)

  • If not for the House, he would run roughshod over Congress and all the "American" people.

    Blog text (23)

  • People must be held accountable or they will run roughshod over everyone and everything.

    Blog text (4)

  • How much more evidence do people need that the Bush administration has run roughshod over the Constitution?

    Blog text (1)

  • Yet Wal-Mart continued to run roughshod over Canadian law as well.

    Blog text (18)

  • The result is a race to the bottom in which the selfish, soulless forces of capitalism run roughshod over the social good.

    Academic text (2002)

  • Without the stand-up client, law enforcement would have free rein to run roughshod over all of us.

    Blog text (21)

  • Look, don't irresponsibly run roughshod over this and wreck people's lives.

    Match Point (2005)

  • The manager continually ran roughshod over his team's ideas without considering their input.

Synonyms

to mistreat
vsto run roughshod
63 2.9

To be cruel to people or animals

emphasizes lack of consideration rather than specific cruelty or harm
to play fast and loose
vsto run roughshod
  • Informal
6 8.0

Act in a careless way by ignoring rules and other people's feelings

involves deliberate disregard for rights rather than casual irresponsibility
to walk all over someone
vsto run roughshod
  • Informal
3 7.2

Treat someone badly by using them and ignoring their feelings

is closer to general disregard rather than specifically exploiting someone
to ride roughshod
vsto run roughshod
1 8.8

Treat people badly and ignore their feelings or rights

is similar but can mean simple lack of care rather than harshness
to ride roughshod over
vsto run roughshod
1 8.5

Treat other people's feelings, rights, or opinions as not important and ignore them rudely

is broader, meaning disregard that can be less aggressive or complete
to ill-treat
vsto run roughshod
  • NSFW
5.2

Behave towards a person or animal in a cruel, unfair way

focuses on ignoring rights and feelings rather than active cruelty

How Disrespectful

to trample
82 4.4
to run roughshod
6 8.4
to dismiss
332 3.0
to ignore
∞ 1.0
to overlook
243 2.9

Surface Forms

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

Morphology

run + roughshod

The meaning is directly derivable from combining 'run' (to manage/act) with 'roughshod' (acting ruthlessly/without regard): running something in a roughshod manner straightforwardly yields the sense 'to treat with little care or consideration'. Although 'roughshod' is somewhat rare or archaic, given that a learner already knows both constituents the compositional verb + adjective pattern makes the overall MWE predictable.

Etymology

The idiom run roughshod comes from horses that wore rough shoes long ago. If a horse's hooves were rough and shod (fitted with metal shoes), it would step on and damage plants or people as it ran, so the phrase now means 'to treat someone with little care or respect'.