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Runaway vs Runoff - What's the difference?

runaway | runoff |

As nouns the difference between runaway and runoff

is that runaway is a person or animal that runs away or has run away; a person, animal, or organization that escapes limitations while runoff is that portion of precipitation or irrigation on an area which does not infiltrate or evaporate, but instead is discharged from the area.

runaway

English

Alternative forms

* run-away

Noun

(en noun)
  • A person or animal that runs away or has run away; a person, animal, or organization that escapes limitations.
    • Runaway children are vulnerable to criminal exploitation.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Thou runaway , thou coward, art thou fled?
  • *
  • A train that is out of control.
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  • *
  • *
  • (usually attributive) An object or process that is out of control or out of equilibrium.
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  • The act of running away, especially of a horse or teams.
    • There was a runaway yesterday.
  • An overwhelming victory.
    • The home side won in a runaway .

    Usage notes

    This word is frequently used attributively, as in "runaway X" to mean "an X which has run away" or "an X which is out of control".

    Related terms

    * run away

    runoff

    English

    (wikipedia runoff)

    Alternative forms

    * run-off

    Noun

  • That portion of precipitation or irrigation on an area which does not infiltrate or evaporate, but instead is discharged from the area.
  • Dissolved chemicals, etc, included in such water.
    • The runoff of nitrates is poisoning the lake.
  • A second or further round of an indecisive election, after other candidates (often all but the last two) have been eliminated,
    • There will now be a runoff as neither front runner received more than 50% of the vote.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2012 , date=April 23 , author=Angelique Chrisafis , title=François Hollande on top but far right scores record result in French election , work=the Guardian citation , page= , passage= It is one of the left's best ever results and will raise momentum for next month's final runoff where only the two candidates will compete against each other.}}

    Derived terms

    * surface runoff