Run away means to leave a place or a person quickly in order to escape (from home, from danger), or to avoid problems and difficult situations. In the first meaning, it is about running off in the literal sense: The deer heard us and ran away. In the second, people run away from responsibility, decisions or unpleasant conversations: Stop running away from the problem.
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run away (from + person/place); run away from home; run away from + problems/responsibility
- A man grabbed a phone from the café table and ran away down the street.
- Our dog ran away during the fireworks, but a neighbour found him the next morning.
- Moving to another city won't help if you're just running away from your problems.
What changed
First versionAt sixteen, my cousin escaped from home and went to Moscow.
RevisionAt sixteen, my cousin ran away from home and went to Moscow.
“Escape” fits getting out of a prison, captivity or a dangerous place. When someone secretly leaves home or their family, say “ran away from home”.
“Run out” is often confused with “run away”, but it means to be used up so that nothing is left: We've run out of coffee. “Run out” can also mean to leave a place by running: She ran out of the room in tears. “Run away” means to run off so that you end up far from someone or something.
Your turn
You can't keep ___ from difficult conversations; sooner or later you'll have to talk to her.
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running away — The sentence is about a habit of avoiding difficult conversations, and that is “run away from”. “Running out” would mean that something is being used up or that a person is running out of a room; neither meaning works with “from difficult conversations”.
Write about a problem that someone ran away from for a long time: you or someone you know. Name the problem and say how it ended.
My friend spent a whole year running away from his debts, but in the end the bank took him to court.
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