skedaddle
Americanverb (used without object)
noun
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have skedaddledperfect
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has skedaddledperfect 3rd person singular
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are skedaddlingprogressive
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am skedaddlingprogressive 1st person singular
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has been skedaddlingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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skedaddlingparticiple
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skedaddlessingular 3rd person
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is skedaddlingprogressive 3rd person singular
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have been skedaddlingperfect progressive
Past
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had skedaddledperfect
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skedaddledparticiple
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was skedaddlingprogressive singular
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skedaddledsimple
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had been skedaddlingperfect progressive
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were skedaddlingprogressive plural
Future
Etymology
Origin of skedaddle
1860–65, compare dial. ( Scots, N England) skedaddle to spill, scatter, skiddle to move away quickly
Explanation
When you skedaddle, you leave very suddenly. A kid who breaks a window with her baseball might decide to skedaddle before her neighbor comes home from work. You might decide to skedaddle from your aunt's party before she starts showing the slides from her vacation ten years ago, or skedaddle from the town swimming pool when it starts to rain. In either case, you're getting out of there, and fast. Skedaddle is American Civil War military slang, dating from about 1861 — experts aren't sure what its roots are.
Vocabulary lists containing skedaddle
Ben Zimmer's 30 Great American Words
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The Red Umbrella
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"Pitch Perfect," Vocabulary from the movie
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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.
But even the vague threat of personal conflict and humiliation was enough to make him skedaddle down to Mar-a-Lago when it was time to go.
From Salon • Aug. 16, 2023
Ernest Hemingway’s advice for novelists dealing with Hollywood was to stop on the east bank of the Colorado River, hold your nose, toss your screenplay over the state line, take the money and skedaddle.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 4, 2022
In such a situation, taking all this in, a sane character would run, flee, skedaddle, vamoose, make tracks and call in the cops, or maybe an airstrike.
From Seattle Times • Oct. 28, 2021
Not that you can feel comfortable even turning down a meager offer to skedaddle.
From Washington Post • Dec. 18, 2015
I leave five dollars in the jar for a bucket of bait and try to skedaddle before anybody thinks to ask what I’m up to.
From "The Young Man and the Sea" by Rodman Philbrick
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.
