flee
Americanverb (used without object)
-
flees,
present (3rd person singular)
-
fled,
past participle, past
-
fleeing
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
flees,
present (3rd person singular)
-
fled,
past participle, past
-
fleeing
present participle
verb
-
to run away from (a place, danger, etc); fly
to flee the country
-
(intr) to run or move quickly; rush; speed
she fled to the door
verb
noun
Usage
What does flee mean? To flee is to run away or escape from a dangerous or otherwise negative situation. Much less commonly, flee can be used to mean to move at a fast pace. The past tense of flee is fled. Example: He was forced to flee his home as a result of the impending battle.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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fleesimple
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fleessimple
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have fledperfect
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has fledperfect
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am fleeingprogressive
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are fleeingprogressive
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is fleeingprogressive
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have been fleeingperfect progressive
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has been fleeingperfect progressive
Past
-
fledsimple
-
had fledperfect
-
was fleeingprogressive
-
were fleeingprogressive
-
had been fleeingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of flee
First recorded before 900; Middle English fleen, Old English flēon; cognate with Old High German flichan ( German fliehen ), Gothic thliuhan; compare Old English fleogan “to fly”; see also fly 2
Explanation
If you bolt, scram, skedaddle, or get the heck of out Dodge, you flee. You run away fast. Don’t confuse flee with "flea." They sound alike, but the second kind is an insect whose bites make you itch. We get the word flee from Old English fleon. When you flee, you get away as quickly as you can. You might even take flight to escape — usually from a dangerous place or situation. In a moment of panic after stealing a cookie from the cookie jar, you might decide to flee the scene of the crime.
Vocabulary lists containing flee
"Macbeth" Vocabulary from Act IV
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Beowulf vocabulary
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Passover Vocabulary
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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:
On the morning Holmes is due to report to prison, Fielder arrives with a parting gag gift: hair dye and glasses, in case she’d prefer to disguise herself and flee the country.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
In the nearer term, he cautioned, even a small amount of S&P 500 underperformance could trigger that momentum crowd to flee, speeding up a selloff.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2026
Some have wanted to escape Washington’s notorious humid summers, while others longed to flee the cold and create a “winter White House” in warmer climes.
From Salon ● Oct. 10, 2026
The protests forced tens of thousands of migrants to flee, with some returning home through repatriation programmes organised by their governments.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
“The fire also impacted wildlife. During a wildfire, deer can be chased out into traffic, mothers will flee their nests, leaving behind their babies.”
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
The novel tells the story of a teacher who flees gang violence in Haiti and his adventures before he finally makes it to Canada, where he re-discovers "the right to breathe without fear".
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
Surprise, surprise: Tony doesn’t get the fellowship, and instead, flees his childhood home early in the morning to catch a bus and a ferry to Provincetown.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
Helped by a young girl, Paul flees from those who seek to exploit him.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
The 2007 opening of FX’s groundbreaking legal drama “Damages,” in which Byrne’s young lawyer, Ellen Parsons, flees an uptown New York apartment building in which something terrible has clearly happened, sparked all manner of conversation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 25, 2026
The Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it’!” he read aloud.
From "Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets" by J. K. Rowling
Many legal residents have stopped showing up to work or fled to other parts of the country out of fear.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
At only eight, she fled war-torn Somalia with her family after gunmen attacked their home and lived in a refugee camp in Kenya for four years.
From Salon ● Oct. 16, 2026
But that can leave young people like Mona who have fled conflict to come to Northern Ireland, with no automatic right to education.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
Hilton, 57, was born in London to parents who fled conflict in their native Hungary during the 1956 uprising against the Soviet-controlled communist government and later anglicized their surname, Hircsák, to Hilton.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026
I fled to Washington and I didn’t say it.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
Spooked investors are fleeing some of the big-tech companies that reached new highs on the back of the artificial-intelligence boom.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Omar was born in Somalia before fleeing with her family to a refugee camp in Kenya.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
"They were Muslims fleeing horrific violence in Myanmar, so religious solidarity and humanitarian sympathy came together quite naturally."
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
The Department of Homeless Services and Housing would be asked for an assessment of what additional resources would be necessary to provide emergency beds for all people fleeing intimate partner violence.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
They followed along, trying to keep out of the way of the fleeing people.
From "Finding Junie Kim" by Ellen Oh
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
