Meaning of run someone ragged | Babel Free

Definitions

To exhaust; to demand excessive effort or work from somebody.

idiomatic

Examples

“They’ve been running him ragged trying to keep up with the demand for new features.”

“A little man by modern-day goon-basketball standards, the five-foot ten-inch speedster [Ralph Beard] handles bigger opponents by running them ragged.”

“Rebeca is busy with the children, who are busy getting into mischief. The baby runs her ragged.”

“The choice of priorities he had chosen gave him the right to demand acceptance of his ways and ignore the needs of others. It gave him the power to insist on servitude and, without thought, dismiss Arnam's pride. It gave him the right to torment, the right to run him ragged when he chose, [...]”

“He's letting me hire four new rangers. Isn't that great? The increase in tourists are running us ragged.”

“England ran Tunisia ragged in that spell but were punished for missing a host of chances when Ferjani Sassi equalised from the penalty spot against the run of play after Kyle Walker was penalised for an elbow on Fakhreddine Ben Youssef.”

CEFR level