Runoff

How to spell runoff

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce runoff

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does runoff mean?

1. nounRainwater or other liquid that flows off the surface of land instead of soaking into the ground.
2. nounA final, deciding contest or election held when no competitor has won outright.

Runoff in a sentence

• Heavy rain caused muddy runoff to pour across the road.

• Neither candidate reached fifty percent, so a runoff was scheduled for next month.

• The farm installed ditches to control fertiliser runoff into the river.

• The two fastest swimmers tied, forcing a runoff to decide the title.

Where does runoff come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a transparent English compound formed from the native verb 'run' and the particle 'off', both of which descend from Old English roots: 'run' from 'rinnan' meaning to flow or to move quickly, and 'off' from 'of', an older form of the preposition meaning away or from. The combination first appears in the nineteenth century, originally describing rainwater or surface water that flows off the land rather than soaking into the soil. From that practical, hydrological sense the word spread into other areas: by the early twentieth century it named a deciding contest held when no competitor wins outright, the idea being that the field 'runs off' a final round to settle the result. Because it is built from two everyday words, the only spelling trap is the modern habit of closing it up into one solid word rather than writing it with a hyphen or a space. Note how the single 'n' of 'run' simply meets the 'o' of 'off', giving the doubled 'f' but only one 'n'.

How the word is built

• run (to flow or move)
• off (away, departing)