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Run to seed

Idiomatic Phrase
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

To deteriorate in quality, appearance, or vitality; botanical metaphor describing plants going to seed after flowering, implying decline from peak condition into neglect or decay.

Detailed Definition
Run to seed means to decline, deteriorate, or lose former vigour through neglect, age, idleness, or lack of care. The idiom comes from plants that have passed beyond flowering into seed, so it can suggest both decay and hidden future fertility. In poetry, it may describe gardens, houses, bodies, reputations, towns, or institutions. A poet can use it elegiacally for decline, or more subtly to ask whether apparent neglect may contain wildness, renewal, or a refusal of cultivated control.
Example
Example in poetry:
A pastoral elegy might say the once-proud garden has run to seed behind the empty house; In satire, a noble family runs to seed after generations of idleness; The phrase means to decline through neglect; A poet can use it for decay, class, and memory.
Additional Notes
Run to seed means deteriorate, decline, or become neglected, especially after former vitality. It overlaps with go to seed, but run to seed may suggest an ongoing process. In poetry, it can describe gardens, bodies, towns, houses, traditions, or reputations. Students should remember that seeding is also natural reproduction, so the phrase can carry ambiguity: decline may contain future growth. It pairs well with weeds, late summer, neglect, and ageing.
Also Known As
decline
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