make the running

English

Alternative forms

• make all the running

Verb

make the running (third-person singular simple present makes the running, present participle making the running, simple past and past participle made the running)

1. (idiomatic, chiefly UK) To have a leading or influential position in a field or activity; to be more active than others.

   Synonym: set the pace

   • 2014 April 7, Mark Brown, “Royal art show, The First Georgians, to open at Buckingham Palace”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     He added: "In this period if you looked at the western world and asked who is making the running, from the point of view of modern society and particularly in terms of liberty, it would be Britain and we forget that. Britain is absolutely the model of the future."

Further reading

• “make the running”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “make (all) the running”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.