escape
to slip or get away, as from confinement or restraint; gain or regain liberty: to escape from jail.
to slip away from pursuit or peril; avoid capture, punishment, or any threatened evil.
to issue from a confining enclosure, as a fluid.
to slip away; fade: The words escaped from memory.
Botany. (of an originally cultivated plant) to grow wild.
(of a rocket, molecule, etc.) to achieve escape velocity.
to slip away from or elude (pursuers, captors, etc.): He escaped the police.
to succeed in avoiding (any threatened or possible danger or evil): She escaped capture.
to elude (one's memory, notice, search, etc.).
to fail to be noticed or recollected by (a person): Her reply escapes me.
(of a sound or utterance) to slip from or be expressed by (a person, one's lips, etc.) inadvertently.
an act or instance of escaping.
the fact of having escaped.
a means of escaping: We used the tunnel as an escape.
avoidance of reality: She reads mystery stories as an escape.
leakage, as of water or gas, from a pipe or storage container.
Botany. a plant that originated in cultivated stock and is now growing wild.
Physics, Rocketry. the act of achieving escape velocity.
(usually initial capital letter)Computers. Escape key.
for or providing an escape: an escape route.
Origin of escape
1synonym study For escape
Other words for escape
Other words from escape
- es·cap·a·ble, adjective
- es·cape·less, adjective
- es·cap·er, noun
- es·cap·ing·ly, adverb
- pre·es·cape, noun, verb (used without object), pre·es·caped, pre·es·cap·ing.
- self-es·cape, noun
- un·es·cap·a·ble, adjective
- un·es·cap·a·bly, adverb
- un·es·caped, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use escape in a sentence
On a craft like this every man instinctively knows what should be done in any moment of escapable peril.
Dave Darrin After The Mine Layers | H. Irving HancockThey are the most escapable things we have ever tried to keep.
Pond and Stream | Arthur Ransome
British Dictionary definitions for escape
/ (ɪˈskeɪp) /
to get away or break free from (confinements, captors, etc): the lion escaped from the zoo
to manage to avoid (imminent danger, punishment, evil, etc): to escape death
(intr usually foll by from) (of gases, liquids, etc) to issue gradually, as from a crack or fissure; seep; leak: water was escaping from the dam
(tr) to elude; be forgotten by: the actual figure escapes me
(tr) to be articulated inadvertently or involuntarily: a roar escaped his lips
(intr) (of cultivated plants) to grow wild
the act of escaping or state of having escaped
avoidance of injury, harm, etc: a narrow escape
a means or way of escape
(as modifier): an escape route
a means of distraction or relief, esp from reality or boredom: angling provides an escape for many city dwellers
a gradual outflow; leakage; seepage
Also called: escape valve, escape cock a valve that releases air, steam, etc, above a certain pressure; relief valve or safety valve
a plant that was originally cultivated but is now growing wild
Origin of escape
1Derived forms of escape
- escapable, adjective
- escaper, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with escape
In addition to the idiom beginning with escape
- escape notice
also see:
- narrow escape
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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