run-on sentence

noun

1. a written sequence of two or more main clauses that are not separated by a period or semicolon or joined by a conjunction.

run-on sentence

1. A grammatically faulty sentence in which two or more main or independent clauses are joined without a word to connect them or a punctuation mark to separate them: “The fog was thick he could not find his way home.” The error can be corrected by adding a conjunction with a comma (“The fog was thick, and he could not find his way home”) or by separating the two clauses with a semicolon (“The fog was thick; he could not find his way home”).

Word History and Origins

Origin of run-on sentence¹

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

But if the above resembles a run-on sentence, here’s the reason: the Seattle Storm Center for Basketball Performance defies easy description.

From Seattle Times

This run-on sentence had 3,819 letters and created the S — or spike — protein that the coronavirus needed to infect and replicate.

From Los Angeles Times

Describing Big’s accomplishments, he rattles a run-on sentence like he’s speaking in tongues: “lied to the devil—stalked the deepest woods—hogtied panthers—drained jugs—got stung by one thousand hornets and only smiled.”

From Los Angeles Times

What followed instead was an hour of presidential stream of consciousness as Mr. Trump drifted seemingly at random from one topic to another, often in the same run-on sentence.

From New York Times

“The protests are just punctuation marks in a long run-on sentence,” she said.

From Washington Post