Meaning & use
hit and run
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
An incident in which a driver hits someone or something with a vehicle and drives away without stopping to help or give details.
Grammar: Takes an or the: the police are investigating a hit and run.
Patterns
- a hit and run
- the victim of a hit and run
Police are appealing for witnesses to a hit and run on Main Street last night.
She was injured in a hit and run while cycling to work.
The hit and run left the family with no way to identify the driver.
adjectivebefore a noun
Describing a crash or attack in which the person responsible leaves the scene at once.
Grammar: Comes before the noun it describes, usually hyphenated: a hit-and-run driver.
Patterns
- a hit-and-run driver
- a hit-and-run accident
The hit-and-run driver was arrested two days later.
He was charged with a hit-and-run offense.
A hit-and-run collision damaged three parked cars.
adjectivebefore a nounfigurative
Describing a quick surprise attack, in war or sport, followed by an immediate withdrawal.
Grammar: Used figuratively or militarily before a noun: hit-and-run raids.
Patterns
- hit-and-run tactics
- a hit-and-run raid
The rebels relied on hit-and-run raids against supply convoys.
Critics called his visit a hit-and-run attempt to grab headlines.
The team used hit-and-run tactics, striking fast and falling back.
Word forms
| plural | hit and runs |
|---|
Common combinations
- hit-and-run driver
- The hit-and-run driver turned himself in the next morning.
- fatal hit and run
- Officers are investigating a fatal hit and run near the school.
- victim of a hit and run
- The cyclist was the victim of a hit and run.
- hit-and-run accident
- A hit-and-run accident left the car badly dented.
- hit-and-run tactics
- Small boats used hit-and-run tactics against larger ships.
Synonyms and how they differ
- collision
- Collision names any crash and says nothing about whether the driver stayed, whereas hit and run always means the driver left.
- ambush
- An ambush is a planned surprise attack from hiding and need not involve a quick retreat, unlike a hit-and-run raid.
- raid
- A raid is a sudden attack that may last some time, while hit-and-run stresses leaving immediately.
Word family
Commonly confused: hit and run or hit-and-miss?
hit and run vs hit-and-miss
Hit-and-miss means unreliable or random, and has nothing to do with leaving the scene of a crash.
Practice
The police are looking for the driver involved in a ___ on Oak Road last night.
Choose one answer.
A hit and run is a crash where the driver leaves. Hit and miss means unreliable, so it does not fit a crime report.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “hit and run”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.