Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Showing results for run rings around. Search instead for run+rings+round.
Synonyms

run rings around

Idioms  

  1. Also, run circles around. Be markedly superior to, as in Ethan runs rings around David in chess, or In spelling, Karen runs circles around her classmates. The first term, dating from the late 1800s, alludes to a horse running around a riding ring much faster than the others.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"I kept having DOJ run rings around me. Right now, as we speak, we have our team of attorneys going through that document in great detail."

From Fox News • Dec. 9, 2019

I also discovered that people with thick Southern accents could run rings around me in chemistry class.

From New York Times • Mar. 23, 2019

He is, however, no match for folks who have run rings around his ramshackle campaign in Colorado Springs and Casper, Wyo.

From Washington Post • Apr. 20, 2016

Pacey Ecuadorian forward Enner Valencia arrived after a successful World Cup to run rings around full backs, and striker Andy Carroll regained fitness after an early season setback to bludgeon his way past central defenders.

From Washington Times • May 20, 2015

Garbage, I told them, biologically I’m twenty-two, I could run rings around you any day.

From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.