run down
"run-down" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“run down” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To hit someone with a car or other vehicle and injure or kill them.
Corpus desk
Index EN-run-down · run down · English
run down · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "R" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | run down |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “run down” in English
Rare enough to double-check
run down is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 13 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for run down, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is run down, spelled R-U-N- -D-O-W-N.
Definition
- 1To hit someone with a car or other vehicle and injure or kill them.
- 2To criticize someone or an organisation, often unfairly.
- 3To find something or someone after searching for a long time.
- 4To lose power slowly. Used for a machine, battery, or other powered device.
- 5To read quickly a list or other short text.
- 6To describe in the form of a rundown, a rough outline or summary.
- 7To reduce the size or stock levels of a business, often with a view to closure.
- 8To decline in quality or condition.
- 9To chase till the object pursued is captured or exhausted.
- 10To run against and sink, as a vessel.
- 11To crush; to overthrow; to overbear.
- 12To approach (someone, thing or place) aggressively, as to attack.
- 13To move (some copy) down to the next line.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how run down appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
He was run down while crossing the main road.
Whatever the company says, the media is going to run them down.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.