rampant » rapid

Chiefly in:   run rapid

Classification: English

Spotted in the wild:

  • With Lance Armstrong’s victory in the Tour de Georgia, America’s precursor to the Tour de France, bike fervor has been running rapid throughout the northeast. (St. Michael's College Echo, Apr. 28, 2004)
  • “Diabetes is running rapid all over the country,” resident Bonnie Gipson said. (Louisiana Tech, Ruston Leader, May 20, 2005)
  • So why the “Now what?” syndrome is running rapid around the Rose City, the only vaccine to be found is a potent dosage of be patient, sit and wait. (Hoopsworld.com, May 26, 2005)
  • Stereotypes, racism, and classism still ran rapid in the minds of students. (Smithsonian National Museum of American History: Reflections)

Analyzed or reported by:

The substitution of rampant with rapid slightly changes the sense of idiom, from a primary connotation of wildness to one of quickness.

| link | entered by Ben Zimmer, 2005/07/11 |

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