escape hatch
Americannoun
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a hatch used for emergency escape, as from a submarine or aircraft.
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a means of avoiding a troublesome situation; a ready or handy way out.
noun
Etymology
Origin of escape hatch
First recorded in 1920–25
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.
The treks flourished throughout the Middle Ages, faded, then rebounded from a niche spiritual journey to a global escape hatch; in 2025, the pilgrim office handed out 530,000 certificates of completion, or compostelas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
While the mechanics may be complicated, the upshot for savers is clear—anyone worried about declining saving account rates now has an escape hatch.
From Barron's ● Dec. 11, 2025
But it instead feels like an easy escape hatch when what “On Swift Horses” promised was a richer psychological landscape about what roils inside hearts accustomed to hiding.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 25, 2025
The small catamaran, called the Serenity, began to fill with water after suffering a failure on the seal around its escape hatch, ABC News reported.
From BBC ● Nov. 11, 2024
His eyes dart around the room, as if he’s looking for a secret escape hatch.
From "Blended" by Sharon M. Draper
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
