elopement
Americannoun
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elopements
plural
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an act or instance of running off secretly, especially to be married.
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an act or instance of a patient or person in care leaving a hospital, care facility, or safe area independently without notifying anyone.
Nursing homes need strategies to cope with elopement.
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a small wedding ceremony with few or no guests and often without a reception.
The couple had a quiet elopement in Dublin with only their parents and an officiant present.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of elopement
First recorded in 1600–10; elope ( def. ) + -ment ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The Janet Jackson that “Control” unleashed on the world was a teenager shaking off the dust of two forgettable pop albums and a misguided elopement with another pop star, James DeBarge, when she was 18.
From Salon ● Apr. 11, 2026
When she shot her first elopement in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park, she was transformed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2025
Gerry and Theresa’s nuptials are neither a private affair, discreet elopement, nor intimate gathering.
From Slate ● Jan. 4, 2024
The two heard no warnings, so they pressed forward with their elopement plans, driving south to a beach just past Wailea, where they exchanged vows under perfect blue skies.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 11, 2023
The Brownings’ elopement created a schism between their families. sherbet.
From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner
During the elopements, her husband Bill takes photos via drone and shoots video.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2025
The rule about elopements is to do it first and announce it afterward.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 21, 2022
Some look like elopements or first-time trips for nervous couples; others look like tearful reunions or contemplative solo journeys.
From Slate ● Feb. 24, 2021
Lindsey Ganahl, an Issaquah-based photographer who specializes in adventure elopements, saw inquiries surge by as much as 75% this summer.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 17, 2020
Duelling, imprisonment for debt, intoxication, elopements, are, perhaps, the most striking social incidents in “Pickwick” that have disappeared and become all but antiquarian in their character.
From Pickwickian Studies by Percy Hethrington Fitzgerald
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
