Run-down

adj, noun

adj, noun ·2 syllables ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Alternative form of rundown. alt-of, alternative

    "Shepard: Give me a run-down of the damage. Avina: We have lost all primary power to the level. Environmental controls are not responding. Class three fires are burning in sectors 2, 3, 6 and 7. Civilian casualties are high."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Tired and exhausted.
  2. 2
    Decrepit.

    "The task was made trebly difficult, however, by the badly run-down condition in which the railways of Britain had been unavoidably left at the end of the war in 1945, […]."

  3. 3
    Having the spring unwound.
Adjective
  1. 1
    having the spring unwound wordnet
  2. 2
    worn and broken down by hard use wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
beatausgespieltbanjaxedbeat upbeaten upbedraggled

Example

More examples

"This city may be a little run-down, but the people living here are all kind, and will welcome anyone with open arms."

Etymology

Deverbal from run down.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.