verb
-
to run away from (a place, danger, etc); fly
to flee the country
-
(intr) to run or move quickly; rush; speed
she fled to the door
verb
noun
Usage
What does flee mean? To flee is to run away or escape from a dangerous or otherwise negative situation.Much less commonly, flee can be used to mean to move at a fast pace. The past tense of flee is fled.Example: He was forced to flee his home as a result of the impending battle.
Other Word Forms
- fleer noun
- outflee verb (used with object)
- unfleeing adjective
Etymology
Origin of flee
First recorded before 900; Middle English fleen, Old English flēon; cognate with Old High German flichan ( German fliehen ), Gothic thliuhan; compare Old English fleogan “to fly”; fly 2
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.
Millions of refugees have fled Ukraine, where vast areas have been devastated by fighting.
From Barron's
Of course some of us wept and raged when he once again had to flee some bigger monkey that he had clearly annoyed, but while Punch was certainly cowed, he was never broken.
From Los Angeles Times
Anaheim police are still searching for the three suspects, who fled in a dark-colored sedan.
From Los Angeles Times
Western diplomats in Damascus assessed that more than 20,000 people fled the camp in a matter of days earlier amid rioting and a surge of escape attempts.
He becomes the host to a former student named Sabiha, who has fled her home because she is suspected—wrongly, she claims—of killing her husband in a fire.
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.
