escape hatch

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.

escape hatch

noun

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of escape hatch¹

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

Red warning lights flash above the door, and inside there is an emergency escape hatch into a tunnel in case something goes wrong.

From BBC

Red warning lights flash above the door, and inside there is an emergency escape hatch into a tunnel in case something went wrong.

From BBC

Throughout the novel, Rhys references Kant, De Beauvoir, Sartre, Virginia Woolf and Epictetus, among others, using knowledge as a balm and escape hatch.

From Los Angeles Times

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

“Music for us was like an escape hatch,” said Montenegro.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• side door www.thesaurus.com