escape
Americanverb (used without object)
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escapes,
present (3rd person singular)
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escaped,
past participle, past
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escaping
present participle
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to slip or get away, as from confinement or restraint; gain or regain liberty.
to escape from jail.
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to slip away from pursuit or peril; avoid capture, punishment, or any threatened evil.
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to issue from a confining enclosure, as a fluid.
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to slip away; fade.
The words escaped from memory.
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Botany. (of an originally cultivated plant) to grow wild.
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(of a rocket, molecule, etc.) to achieve escape velocity.
verb (used with object)
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escapes,
present (3rd person singular)
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escaped,
past participle, past
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escaping
present participle
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to slip away from or elude (pursuers, captors, etc.).
He escaped the police.
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to succeed in avoiding (any threatened or possible danger or evil).
She escaped capture.
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to elude (one's memory, notice, search, etc.).
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to fail to be noticed or recollected by (a person).
Her reply escapes me.
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(of a sound or utterance) to slip from or be expressed by (a person, one's lips, etc.) inadvertently.
noun
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escapes
plural
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an act or instance of escaping.
- Synonyms:
- flight
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the fact of having escaped.
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a means of escaping.
We used the tunnel as an escape.
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avoidance of reality.
She reads mystery stories as an escape.
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leakage, as of water or gas, from a pipe or storage container.
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Botany. a plant that originated in cultivated stock and is now growing wild.
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Physics, Rocketry. the act of achieving escape velocity.
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(usually initial capital letter) Escape key.
adjective
verb
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to get away or break free from (confinements, captors, etc)
the lion escaped from the zoo
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to manage to avoid (imminent danger, punishment, evil, etc)
to escape death
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(of gases, liquids, etc) to issue gradually, as from a crack or fissure; seep; leak
water was escaping from the dam
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(tr) to elude; be forgotten by
the actual figure escapes me
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(tr) to be articulated inadvertently or involuntarily
a roar escaped his lips
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(intr) (of cultivated plants) to grow wild
noun
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the act of escaping or state of having escaped
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avoidance of injury, harm, etc
a narrow escape
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a means or way of escape
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( as modifier )
an escape route
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a means of distraction or relief, esp from reality or boredom
angling provides an escape for many city dwellers
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a gradual outflow; leakage; seepage
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Also called: escape valve. escape cock. a valve that releases air, steam, etc, above a certain pressure; relief valve or safety valve
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a plant that was originally cultivated but is now growing wild
Synonym Usage
Escape, elude, evade mean to keep free of something. To escape is to succeed in keeping away from danger, pursuit, observation, etc.: to escape punishment. To elude implies baffling pursuers or slipping through an apparently tight net: The fox eluded the hounds. To evade is to turn aside from or go out of reach of a person or thing: to evade the police. See also avoid.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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escapernoun
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preescapenoun
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self-escapenoun
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escapableadjective
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escapelessadjective
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unescapableadjective
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unescapedadjective
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escapinglyadverb
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unescapablyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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escapesimple
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escapessimple
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have escapedperfect
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has escapedperfect
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am escapingprogressive
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are escapingprogressive
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is escapingprogressive
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have been escapingperfect progressive
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has been escapingperfect progressive
Past
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escapedsimple
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had escapedperfect
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was escapingprogressive
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were escapingprogressive
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had been escapingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of escape
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English escapen, ascapen, from Old North French escaper, from French échapper or directly from unattested Vulgar Latin excappāre, verbal derivative (with ex- “out of, from”) of Late Latin cappa “hooded cloak”; see ex- 1, cap 1
Explanation
To escape is to break free, to get out of a situation you don’t want to be in. It’s also a noun, as in an escape from a dull party that might involve a ladder and an upstairs window. It’s hard to pin down the word escape. An escape can be the act of escaping, like an escape from prison, but an escape can also be a calming retreat, like a vacation that gets you away from the stress of everyday life. As a verb, escape also means, "to fail to experience or know.” If the humor escapes you, you don't find the joke funny.
Vocabulary lists containing escape
Beowulf vocabulary
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"The Experiment" and "Superstition"
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Selection Vocabulary 1, Unit 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:
“What we’re trying to teach them is there are no escape valves,” he told Axios earlier this month.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
The felt surrounds the 3D-printed restoration and gives gases released by the resin a way to escape.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 23, 2026
“We want it to be an escape, just like Disneyland.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
The sales pitch has become harder to escape precisely as it has become more intimate.
From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2026
Now if we ever come across a human, we pretend we’re going to eat them and then we allow them to escape, so they can tell everyone how they were nearly eaten by trolls.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
"He has this happy place where he goes into... This is where he escapes to mentally in times of stress, pressure, anxiety or chaos," Swift told Apple Music's Zane Lowe.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
Panama is preparing to announce changes to its prison system in July following inmate escapes, while Honduras plans to purchase drones from Ukraine for its anti-drug efforts.
From Barron's ● Jun. 24, 2026
While she never escapes the gravitational pull of her own gendered perspective, Ms. Saxbe nonetheless posits fresh approaches on how men parent and where they might improve.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
The same idea explains how cars move, how people row boats, and why a balloon shoots forward when air escapes from its opening.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 16, 2026
Both would survive, though they never got over the fear these near escapes caused and kept their doors securely bolted against all visitors throughout the plague.
From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy
HelloFresh—the largest meal kit company globally—has escaped unscathed as it does all of its meal-kit manufacturing in-house.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
And there may have been even more important acts, if indeed the hotel’s cellars were used to hide escaped French prisoners of war.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
Even the snow-capped peaks of the Alps have not escaped the heat.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
Marie Leese escaped the fire with just her dog and her phone, but her beloved garden on Maureen Avenue was destroyed, including a summer house built by her husband before he died.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
The disgraced yet legendary circus performer Gia Trivelino has escaped.
From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton
"I suffered from body dysmorphia for years because of that, believing that no matter how strong, thin or young I was, there was no escaping the dreaded cottage cheese thighs."
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
The most popular involves a hippo escaping from a traveling circus and finding its way to a nearby creek.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
Such clues can include ancient eruption deposits, volcanic craters, rising or sinking ground, and escaping gases.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 5, 2026
For the student escaping his work, the assignment should wait for him; acting out no longer gets him out of it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
Helpless, Jefferson took off for the hills, barely escaping before the British burst into the house.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
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.
