"run-on sentence" meaning in English

See run-on sentence in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: run-on sentences [plural]
Etymology: So called because the sentence runs on beyond the point where it should end. Head templates: {{en-noun|head=run-on sentence}} run-on sentence (plural run-on sentences)
  1. (grammar) A written sentence that inappropriately joins two (or more) independent clauses into a single sentence, often with only a comma as separator (comma splice), which should be rendered either as separate sentences or as clauses joined more appropriately (such as by a semicolon or by a comma and coordinating conjunction). Categories (topical): Grammar Synonyms: fused sentence Hyponyms: comma splice Translations (Translations): Bandwurmsatz [masculine] (German), oración mal puntuada [feminine] (Spanish), oración fusionada [feminine] (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-run-on_sentence-en-noun-oRRY2Pnb Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with German translations, Terms with Spanish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 74 26 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 79 21 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 83 17 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 72 28 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 72 28 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 78 22 Topics: grammar, human-sciences, linguistics, sciences Disambiguation of 'Translations': 75 25
  2. Any very long, often also in other ways badly formed or even chaotic sentence.
    Sense id: en-run-on_sentence-en-noun-1ezRvYNL

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_text": "So called because the sentence runs on beyond the point where it should end.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "run-on sentences",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "head": "run-on sentence"
      },
      "expansion": "run-on sentence (plural run-on sentences)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Grammar",
          "orig": "en:Grammar",
          "parents": [
            "Linguistics",
            "Language",
            "Social sciences",
            "Communication",
            "Sciences",
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "74 26",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "79 21",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "83 17",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "72 28",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "72 28",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "78 22",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A written sentence that inappropriately joins two (or more) independent clauses into a single sentence, often with only a comma as separator (comma splice), which should be rendered either as separate sentences or as clauses joined more appropriately (such as by a semicolon or by a comma and coordinating conjunction)."
      ],
      "hyponyms": [
        {
          "word": "comma splice"
        }
      ],
      "id": "en-run-on_sentence-en-noun-oRRY2Pnb",
      "links": [
        [
          "grammar",
          "grammar"
        ],
        [
          "independent clause",
          "independent clause"
        ],
        [
          "comma",
          "comma"
        ],
        [
          "comma splice",
          "comma splice#English"
        ],
        [
          "clause",
          "clause"
        ],
        [
          "joined",
          "joined"
        ],
        [
          "semicolon",
          "semicolon"
        ],
        [
          "coordinating conjunction",
          "coordinating conjunction"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(grammar) A written sentence that inappropriately joins two (or more) independent clauses into a single sentence, often with only a comma as separator (comma splice), which should be rendered either as separate sentences or as clauses joined more appropriately (such as by a semicolon or by a comma and coordinating conjunction)."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "fused sentence"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        "grammar",
        "human-sciences",
        "linguistics",
        "sciences"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "75 25",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Bandwurmsatz"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "75 25",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "oración mal puntuada"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "75 25",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "oración fusionada"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Any very long, often also in other ways badly formed or even chaotic sentence."
      ],
      "id": "en-run-on_sentence-en-noun-1ezRvYNL"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "run-on sentence"
  ],
  "word": "run-on sentence"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with German translations",
    "Terms with Spanish translations",
    "Translation table header lacks gloss"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "So called because the sentence runs on beyond the point where it should end.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "run-on sentences",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "head": "run-on sentence"
      },
      "expansion": "run-on sentence (plural run-on sentences)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Grammar"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A written sentence that inappropriately joins two (or more) independent clauses into a single sentence, often with only a comma as separator (comma splice), which should be rendered either as separate sentences or as clauses joined more appropriately (such as by a semicolon or by a comma and coordinating conjunction)."
      ],
      "hyponyms": [
        {
          "word": "comma splice"
        }
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "grammar",
          "grammar"
        ],
        [
          "independent clause",
          "independent clause"
        ],
        [
          "comma",
          "comma"
        ],
        [
          "comma splice",
          "comma splice#English"
        ],
        [
          "clause",
          "clause"
        ],
        [
          "joined",
          "joined"
        ],
        [
          "semicolon",
          "semicolon"
        ],
        [
          "coordinating conjunction",
          "coordinating conjunction"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(grammar) A written sentence that inappropriately joins two (or more) independent clauses into a single sentence, often with only a comma as separator (comma splice), which should be rendered either as separate sentences or as clauses joined more appropriately (such as by a semicolon or by a comma and coordinating conjunction)."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "fused sentence"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        "grammar",
        "human-sciences",
        "linguistics",
        "sciences"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Any very long, often also in other ways badly formed or even chaotic sentence."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Bandwurmsatz"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "oración mal puntuada"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "oración fusionada"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "run-on sentence"
  ],
  "word": "run-on sentence"
}

Download raw JSONL data for run-on sentence meaning in English (2.3kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-03-26 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-03-21 using wiktextract (fef8596 and 633533e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.