run a temperature

verb

To have a fever.

“My child's running a high temperature.”

Meanings

verbrun a temperature (third-person singular simple present runs a temperature, present participle running a temperature, simple past ran a temperature, past participle run a temperature)

present singular third person runs a temperature · participle present running a temperature · past ran a temperature

  1. idiomaticTo have a fever.

    My child's running a high temperature.

    1 more example

    At first she "ran a temperature" in American parlance, and I could not resist the exquisite caloricity of unexpected delights—Venus febriculosa—though it was a very languid Lolita that moaned and coughed and shivered in my embrace.

    1955 September 15, Vladimir Nabokov, chapter 12, in Lolita, Paris: The Olympia Press […], →OCLC, page 200

    Synonyms: run a fever

Synonyms & antonyms

verbTo have a fever.

Also see
Cite this entry
APA

run a temperature. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/run%20a%20temperature

MLA

“run a temperature.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/run%20a%20temperature. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “run a temperature,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/run%20a%20temperature.

Source: run a temperature on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.