phrasal verb · neutral
run wild
/rʌn waɪld/run WILD
to spread or develop in an uncontrolled or excessive way; to become uncontrollable
Examples
“After the announcement, rumours ran wild across social media.”
“Let your imagination run wild when planning the design.”
“If rules are weak, small problems can run wild and become big ones.”
Band 8 sentence
“Once the unverified story was posted online, rumours ran wild and the company had to issue an official correction within hours.”
Collocations
- rumours run wild
- let imagination run wild
Word family
Common mistakes
Rumours run widely on social media.→Rumours ran wild on social media.
Let your imagination run wildly.→Let your imagination run wild.
Say it for a higher band
5spread→6get out of control→7+run wild
Synonyms
go out of control
spiral out of control
Easily confused
spiral out of control
“The protest spiralled out of control and turned violent.”
Related words
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In run …
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