🗓️ Idiom: Give Someone the Runaround (v)
💬 Meaning
- To avoid giving clear answers or help, often to delay or confuse someone
- To pass a customer from one helper to another, then another without solving their problem
🧠 Example Sentences
- When I asked for a refund, the company gave me the runaround for weeks.
- Customers will stop trusting you if you give them the runaround.
- The client felt frustrated after being given the runaround by several departments.
🏛️ Origin
This idiom likely comes from the idea of making someone run around in circles rather than moving forward. It has been used in English since the 1800s to describe evasive or unhelpful behaviour.
📝 Practice Exercises
1. Fill in the blank:
The support team kept ____________________, and I still don’t have an answer.
Answer
giving me the runaround
2. Choose the correct meaning of “give someone the runaround”:
A) To solve their problem quickly
B) To confuse or delay them on purpose
C) To give them a full refund
Answer
B) To confuse or delay them on purpose
3. Change the sentence using “give someone the runaround”:
“The manager kept avoiding my questions instead of helping.”
Answer
The manager kept giving me the runaround instead of helping.
ℹ️ Other Useful Pages
📚 Learning Resources
👉 Sales and Customer Service Idioms
👉 Business English Idioms List
👥 Support Spaces
👉 Student Space
👉 Tutor Toolkit
⭐️ Extras
📫 Get a Daily Idiom
🚀 Build a Business with AI
Rob is a CELTA qualified English teacher with 15 years of international experience. He has a BSc and PGDip from Loughborough and St Andrews universities in the UK. He has taught in Thailand and Saudi Arabia and now works with professionals worldwide.
Leave a Reply