escapade
Americannoun
-
a wild or exciting adventure, esp one that is mischievous or unlawful; scrape
-
any lighthearted or carefree episode; prank; romp
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of escapade
1645–55; < French < Spanish escapada, equivalent to escap ( ar ) to escape + -ada -ade 1
Explanation
An escapade is an adventure, tinged with a hint of danger. A road trip could be an escapade, or a few weeks making a living as a professional gambler, or posing as your twin sister and taking a test for her in math. You'll notice the similarities between the words escapade and escape. Usually an escapade involves some form of escape. If you cut class and spend the day at the beach, that's an escapade. If you cut class to watch former figure-skating greats boogying to Broadway tunes on ice, that's an escapade at the Ice Capades.
Vocabulary lists containing escapade
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
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The Boy on the Wooden Box
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The Egypt Game
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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:
"It was a childish escapade that got out of hand," he said.
From BBC ● Apr. 30, 2026
In Brontë’s novel, Cathy and Heathcliff first encounter their neighbors, the Lintons, after an outdoor escapade gone awry.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2026
On a December night in 1598, the Theatre died the way it had lived, in a legally dubious and highly entertaining escapade.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2025
Until this escapade, though, we didn’t quite realize the extent to which no one is in charge: Nobody knows how decisions are made or even whether they are made or simply tumble out randomly.
From Slate ● Jul. 8, 2025
That was in Tennessee, when they waited to be carried away from the dangerous escapade with Ridgeway.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
But the tightrope coach Brendon McCullum and captain Harry Brook are walking is so precarious after England's Ashes defeat and Brook's Wellington escapades, a defeat here may have sent them tumbling to new depths.
From BBC ● Feb. 8, 2026
The warhorse Wawrinka departed for a medical timeout after the third set as his Melbourne escapades caught up with him.
From Barron's ● Jan. 24, 2026
Skipton’s devious ruses and desperate escapades prove diverting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026
Each 11-minute episode follows mundane escapades, like hosting a movie night or getting in a hot tub, punctuated by a somewhat disturbing art style and clumsy-on-purpose animation that strays into the uncanny valley.
From Salon ● Dec. 26, 2025
We started talking about some of Dad’s great escapades: letting me pet the cheetah, taking us Demon Hunting, giving us stars for Christmas.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
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.
