escape hatch

See synonyms for escape hatch on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a hatch used for emergency escape, as from a submarine or aircraft.

  2. a means of avoiding a troublesome situation; a ready or handy way out.

Origin of escape hatch

1
First recorded in 1920–25

Words Nearby escape hatch

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use escape hatch in a sentence

  • Stuck between two unpopular options on a controversial oil pipeline, President Obama finds an escape hatch.

  • He motioned the others to stand back and began opening the dogs which secured the escape hatch.

    First on the Moon | Jeff Sutton
  • Rip smashed at the escape hatch above his head, grabbed propulsion tubes from the rack, and called, "Now!"

    Rip Foster in Ride the Gray Planet | Harold Leland Goodwin
  • Back toward the trailing edge then, to a small escape-hatch beside which was fastened a dull black ball.

    Triplanetary | Edward Elmer Smith
  • Winter staggered to the escape hatch and stood by it, waiting for the others.

    Mr. Spaceship | Philip K. Dick
  • The light over the escape hatch indicated that someone had gone out.

    Stand by for Mars! | Carey Rockwell

British Dictionary definitions for escape hatch

escape hatch

noun
  1. a means of escape in an emergency, esp from a submarine

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012