escape

[ ih-skeyp ]
See synonyms for: escapeescapedescapesescaping on Thesaurus.com

verb (used without object),es·caped, es·cap·ing.
  1. to slip or get away, as from confinement or restraint; gain or regain liberty: to escape from jail.

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

  1. to issue from a confining enclosure, as a fluid.

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

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

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

verb (used with object),es·caped, es·cap·ing.
  1. to slip away from or elude (pursuers, captors, etc.): He escaped the police.

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

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

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

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

noun
  1. an act or instance of escaping.

  2. the fact of having escaped.

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

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

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

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

  5. Physics, Rocketry. the act of achieving escape velocity.

  6. (usually initial capital letter)Computers. Escape key.

adjective
  1. for or providing an escape: an escape route.

Origin of escape

1
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English escapen, ascapen, from Old North French escaper, from French échapper or directly from unattested Vulgar Latin excappāre, verbal derivative (with ex- “out of, from”) of Late Latin cappa “hooded cloak”; see ex-1, cap1

synonym study For escape

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.

Other words for escape

Other words from escape

  • es·cap·a·ble, adjective
  • es·cape·less, adjective
  • es·cap·er, noun
  • es·cap·ing·ly, adverb
  • pre·es·cape, noun, verb (used without object), pre·es·caped, pre·es·cap·ing.
  • self-es·cape, noun
  • un·es·cap·a·ble, adjective
  • un·es·cap·a·bly, adverb
  • un·es·caped, adjective

Words Nearby escape

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use escape in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for escape

escape

/ (ɪˈskeɪp) /


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

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

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

  2. (tr) to elude; be forgotten by: the actual figure escapes me

  3. (tr) to be articulated inadvertently or involuntarily: a roar escaped his lips

  4. (intr) (of cultivated plants) to grow wild

noun
  1. the act of escaping or state of having escaped

  2. avoidance of injury, harm, etc: a narrow escape

    • a means or way of escape

    • (as modifier): an escape route

  1. a means of distraction or relief, esp from reality or boredom: angling provides an escape for many city dwellers

  2. a gradual outflow; leakage; seepage

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

  4. a plant that was originally cultivated but is now growing wild

Origin of escape

1
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

Derived forms of escape

  • escapable, adjective
  • escaper, noun

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

Other Idioms and Phrases with escape

escape

In addition to the idiom beginning with escape

  • escape notice

also see:

  • narrow escape

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.