escape

[ ih-skeyp ]

/ ɪˈskeɪp /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR escape ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used without object), es·caped, es·cap·ing.

to slip or get away, as from confinement or restraint; gain or regain liberty: to escape from jail.

to slip away from pursuit or peril; avoid capture, punishment, or any threatened evil.

to issue from a confining enclosure, as a fluid.

to slip away; fade: The words escaped from memory.

Botany. (of an originally cultivated plant) to grow wild.

(of a rocket, molecule, etc.) to achieve escape velocity.

verb (used with object), es·caped, es·cap·ing.

to slip away from or elude (pursuers, captors, etc.): He escaped the police.

to succeed in avoiding (any threatened or possible danger or evil): She escaped capture.

to elude (one's memory, notice, search, etc.).

to fail to be noticed or recollected by (a person): Her reply escapes me.

(of a sound or utterance) to slip from or be expressed by (a person, one's lips, etc.) inadvertently.

noun

an act or instance of escaping.

the fact of having escaped.

a means of escaping: We used the tunnel as an escape.

avoidance of reality: She reads mystery stories as an escape.

leakage, as of water or gas, from a pipe or storage container.

Botany. a plant that originated in cultivated stock and is now growing wild.

Physics, Rocketry. the act of achieving escape velocity.

(usually initial capital letter) Computers. Escape key.

adjective

for or providing an escape: an escape route.

RELATED WORDS

free, liberated

Nearby words

escallop, escalope, escambia, escanaba, escapade, escape, escape artist, escape beat, escape clause, escape hatch, escape key

Origin of escape

1250–1300; Middle English escapen, ascapen < Old North French escaper (French échapper) < Vulgar Latin *excappāre, verbal derivative (with ex- ex-¹) of Late Latin cappa hooded cloak (see cap¹)

Related forms

es·cap·a·ble, adjectivees·cape·less, adjectivees·cap·er, nounes·cap·ing·ly, adverb

pre·es·cape, noun, verb (used without object), pre·es·caped, pre·es·cap·ing.self-es·cape, nounun·es·cap·a·ble, adjectiveun·es·cap·a·bly, adverbun·es·caped, adjective

Synonym study

7. 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.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for escaped

He then escaped from his detention and arrived on Tverskaya Avenue to join his supporters.
Russia’s Rebel In Chief Escapes House Arrest|Anna Nemtsova|December 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Fourteen years this woman had spent with Rigondeaux before he escaped.
The Life and Hard Times Of The Family A Cuban Defector Left Behind|Brin-Jonathan Butler|December 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Some of them, including Kurnosova, escaped the country as they faced a possible jail term for their opposition activity.
Russians Plot Exiled Government in Kiev|Anna Nemtsova|December 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
As Monday turned to Tuesday morning, five hostages had escaped and the Central Business District had turned into a ghost town.
Jihadi Siege in Sydney Ends in Gunfight|Courtney Subramanian, Lennox Samuels, Chris Allbritton|December 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST

He had a fine eye for moral hypocrisy, and I know that a glaring example of it would not have escaped his notice.
How Richard Pryor Beat Bill Cosby and Transformed America|David Yaffe, Scott Saul|December 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST
A week escaped in which, without having seen Blanche less, he had seen her under circumstances that admitted no opportunity.
Ainslee's magazine, Volume 16, No. 3, October, 1905|Various
I would have escaped my uncle, but he waylaid me in the dark at the foot of the stairs.
Heralds of Empire|Agnes C. Laut
That artful girl soon discovered what had escaped her mistress's observation.
A Terrible Temptation|Charles Reade
We're Federal soldiers just escaped from Andersonville, and they're after us with bloodhounds.
Elsie's Womanhood|Martha Finley
We have had hard times, and hard marching through this rough country, but thanks be to God, I have escaped with a whole skin.
The World Before Them|Susanna Moodie

British Dictionary definitions for escaped

escape

/ (ɪˈskeɪp) /

verb

to get away or break free from (confinements, captors, etc)the lion escaped from the zoo

to manage to avoid (imminent danger, punishment, evil, etc)to escape death

(intr usually foll by from) (of gases, liquids, etc) to issue gradually, as from a crack or fissure; seep; leakwater was escaping from the dam

(tr) to elude; be forgotten bythe actual figure escapes me

(tr) to be articulated inadvertently or involuntarilya roar escaped his lips

(intr) (of cultivated plants) to grow wild

noun

the act of escaping or state of having escaped

avoidance of injury, harm, etca narrow escape

a means or way of escape
(as modifier)an escape route

a means of distraction or relief, esp from reality or boredomangling provides an escape for many city dwellers

a gradual outflow; leakage; seepage

Also called: escape valve, escape cock a valve that releases air, steam, etc, above a certain pressure; relief valve or safety valve

a plant that was originally cultivated but is now growing wild

Derived Formsescapable, adjectiveescaper, noun

Word Origin for escape

C14: from Old Northern French escaper, from Vulgar Latin excappāre (unattested) to escape (literally: to remove one's cloak, hence free oneself), from ex- 1 + Late Latin cappa cloak

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

Word Origin and History for escaped (1 of 2)

escape

c.1300, from Old North French escaper, Old French eschaper (12c., Modern French échapper), from Vulgar Latin *excappare, literally "get out of one's cape, leave a pursuer with just one's cape," from Latin ex- "out of" (see ex-) + Late Latin cappa "mantle" (see cap (n.)). Related: Escaped; escaping.

Word Origin and History for escaped (1 of 2)

escape

c.1400, from escape (v.); earlier eschap (c.1300). Mental/emotional sense is from 1853. Escape clause in the legal sense first recorded 1945.

Medicine definitions for escaped

escape

[ ĭ-skāp′ ]

n.

A gradual effusion from an enclosure; a leakage.

A cardiological situation in which one pacemaker defaults or an atrioventricular conduction fails, and another pacemaker sets the heart's pace for one or more beats.

Idioms and Phrases with escaped

escape

In addition to the idiom beginning with escape

escape notice

also see:

narrow escape

escape

verb (used without object), es·caped, es·cap·ing.

verb (used with object), es·caped, es·cap·ing.

noun

adjective

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of escape

Synonym study

Examples from the Web for escaped

British Dictionary definitions for escaped

escape

verb

noun

Word Origin for escape

Word Origin and History for escaped (1 of 2)

escape

Word Origin and History for escaped (1 of 2)

escape

Medicine definitions for escaped

escape

n.

Idioms and Phrases with escaped

escape