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.
More than 5.5 million people are believed to have fled Ukraine when the war started and the government in Kyiv wants them to return once peace returns.
From BBC
Papa has agreed to marry me off to a distant cousin who fled to Cuba years ago so he could escape fighting in the War of Independence.
From Literature
Andrews only had time to grab her passport and her two gray Bedlington terriers, Cooper and Coco, before she fled.
From Los Angeles Times
"Honestly, it's horrible. At the beginning I couldn't believe it. I thought maybe the images were made with AI," said the journalist, who fled Iran in 2012.
From Barron's
Overwhelmed by guilt, and embarrassed she fled the country in a bid to escape her unhappiness, booking a one-way ticket to Bangok.
From BBC
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.
