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
For Flynn, it’s all part of her job as an elopement adventure photographer.
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
She said that an elopement climb shouldn’t require a couple to push themselves.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 5, 2023
“I was onto Love Simpson from the beginning,” skinny old Miss Effie Belle Tate told Mama after the elopement.
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
During the elopements, her husband Bill takes photos via drone and shoots video.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2025
Another pandemic trend that’s sticking around is smaller weddings and elopements.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 23, 2023
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
Mary Ellen’s father, Thomas Love Peacock, had been close to the poet Shelley, whose life, writes Johnson, “was a harried one of bailiffs, angry parents, elopements, death, delusion, passion, semi-madness, wife-sharing, and suicides.”
From Washington Post ● Jul. 22, 2020
Most men, I believe, are averse to elopements as a general principle; but there are always exceptions, as every one discovers when his own wishes are thwarted.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 57, No. 355, May 1845 by Various
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