elope
Americanverb (used without object)
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elopes,
present (3rd person singular)
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eloped,
past participle, past
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eloping
present participle
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to run off secretly to be married, usually without the consent or knowledge of one's parents or family.
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to get married in a small ceremony with few or no guests and often without a reception.
After the stress of planning my first wedding, I decided that this time I'd just elope.
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to run away with a lover.
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to leave without permission or notification; escape.
At age 21, the apprentice eloped from his master.
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(of a patient or person in care) to leave a hospital, care facility, or safe area independently without notifying anyone.
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verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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elopesimple
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elopessimple
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have elopedperfect
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has elopedperfect
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am elopingprogressive
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are elopingprogressive
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is elopingprogressive
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have been elopingperfect progressive
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has been elopingperfect progressive
Past
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elopedsimple
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had elopedperfect
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was elopingprogressive
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were elopingprogressive
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had been elopingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of elope
First recorded in 1590–1600; Middle English alopen (unrecorded) “to run away” (whence Anglo-French aloper ); see a- 3 ( def. ), lope ( def. )
Explanation
When you elope, you run away with the person you love. Usually, you elope to get married without anyone knowing in advance. The word elope probably originated with the Middle Dutch word lopen, meaning "run away." Couples who elope typically don't seek anyone's permission before running off to get married, not even their parents. Often, that's the whole point of wanting to elope: you can avoid dealing with anyone who might opt to "speak now" instead "holding their peace."
Vocabulary lists containing elope
The Bridge Home
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The Fourteenth Goldfish
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5-letter words, List 2
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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:
He is engaged to his longtime girlfriend with plans to elope.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2025
He and Clarkson married in a quiet 2013 ceremony in Tennessee after deciding to elope, then welcomed a daughter in 2014 and a son in 2016.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2025
And they don’t plan to elope, Zephyr says.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 27, 2023
Your son and his wife were well within their rights to elope.
From Slate ● Jan. 25, 2023
“Roberto, you have to tell your mother. This elope stuff is wrong.”
From "Bodega Dreams" by Ernesto Quinonez
While giving a gift when a couple in your life elopes is a nice gesture, wedding etiquette experts say it’s not required.
From Slate ● Mar. 24, 2023
Her 18-year-old sister, Leah, is secretly dating a Hindu boy whose family emigrated from India; when Ari’s and Leah’s parents refuse to accept the relationship, Leah elopes with Raj and disappears.
From New York Times ● Nov. 24, 2021
Antonio is never seen, Portia doesn’t even rate a mention, while Shylock’s relationship with his daughter, Jessica, who elopes with Lorenzo, a Christian, becomes central to the story.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2018
Bennett's most famous novel The Old Wives' Tale is about two sisters one of whom elopes to a scandalous life in France and the other who stays at home running the family draper's shop.
From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2014
It is not by brutal means that a young officer seduces and elopes with a marchioness, and then marries two heiresses in succession.
From My Recollections of Lord Byron by Sir Hubert E. H. (Hubert Edward Henry) Jerningham
“Downton Abbey” welcomed Tom Branson, a working-class Irishman, into their home and family when the youngest Crawley daughter, Sybil, eloped with him.
From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026
In 1937 Jessica eloped to Europe with her second cousin Esmond Romilly—their ill-starred plan was to head to Spain to report on the civil war there.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 31, 2026
Her parents tried to make her a ward of court, but the couple eloped to Brighton and later married.
From BBC ● Jan. 12, 2024
He has gained tools to regulate his emotions, and his provider shared that in addition to gaining confidence, “he hasn’t eloped from school and can focus for longer periods of time.”
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 24, 2023
They’d eloped on the Northern Pacific to Seattle—she remembered eating breakfast in the dining car—where he worked for two years in a Harbor Island foundry and for one loading lumber on the waterfront.
From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson
In one trajectory, Helen makes the virtuous decision to avoid eloping with the impatient Jed; she is rewarded for her sacrifice with two decades of spinsterhood—in this universe, a tragic outcome.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
Sticks and stones aren't enough to thwart biological attraction, but sometimes those are the only tools available to pastoralists trying to prevent wildlife from eloping with their livestock.
From Science Daily ● May 29, 2024
Wait, could eloping with an Elvis impersonator serving as my officiant actually be kind of romantic?
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 10, 2024
Christian Hecq and Véronique Vella are exuberantly, wackily brilliant as the shallow Mr. and Mrs. Peachum, who set out to take down the notorious criminal Macheath for eloping with their daughter Polly.
From New York Times ● Jul. 6, 2023
I mean I figured everybody would be talking about me getting run over by the train instead of about them eloping.
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
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.
