escape
Americanverb (used without object)
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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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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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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
Related Words
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
- escapable adjective
- escapeless adjective
- escaper noun
- escapingly adverb
- preescape noun
- self-escape noun
- unescapable adjective
- unescapably adverb
- unescaped adjective
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”; ex- 1, cap 1
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.
His family were there that day and Terry himself only escaped by throwing a chair through a window and jumping through it.
From Barron's
“At that time, we needed something separate from the fire — something that the fire couldn’t touch, it was too traumatic to keep revisiting what we’d lost, so our work became our peace and our escape.”
From Los Angeles Times
It has been snowing in the area and the farm said there were no tracks on the ground to suggest the capybaras - called Javier and Esmerelda - had escaped and run off.
From BBC
A 17-year-old who died on the M5 after fleeing a stationary police car while handcuffed had tried to escape from vehicles before, a court has heard.
From BBC
Achille had reportedly escaped the fire, but died after running back in to help others trapped inside.
From Barron's
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.
