run for the exercise

verb

To run for political office with little chance of success.

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Meanings

verbrun for the exercise (third-person singular simple present runs for the exercise, present participle running for the exercise, simple past ran for the exercise, past participle run for the exercise)

present singular third person runs for the exercise · participle present running for the exercise · past ran for the exercise

  1. UScolloquialsimilegovernmentTo run for political office with little chance of success.

    [I]f Rockefeller wanted to run for the exercise, [Democrats] reasoned, let him kill himself off and clear the way for a more regular Republican in the next election.

    1959, Candidates 1960 "xxx", Nelson. A Rockefeller, page 53
    1 more example

    BENTSEN: SAYS HE WON'T RUN "FOR THE EXERCISE" "Asked about the 1992 presidential race, Bentsen said he would not run as a sacrificial lamb so that the [Dems] would have a credible candidate and avoid a humiliating defeat"

    1991, The Hotline, volume 4, numbers 127-148, page 3
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see run, exercise.

Origin

A pun on two senses of run: to run for election and to travel quickly on foot.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

Source: run for the exercise on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.