run for one's money
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
to give someone a strong challenge or competition
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
đưa ra thử thách mạnh hoặc cạnh tranh cho ai đó
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: to run in exchange for money
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The new candidate will give the incumbent a run for their money.
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “run for one's money” mean?
to give someone a strong challenge or competition Literally: to run in exchange for money
Is “run for one's money” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.