escape
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.
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.
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.
for or providing an escape: an escape route.
Origin of escape
1synonym study For escape
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
On that planet, there are orbiters imaging the landscape, measuring atmospheric escape and chemistry, and surveying the weather.
We need to go to Venus as soon as possible | Neel Patel | September 16, 2020 | MIT Technology ReviewThis is the core of Recon Campers—a camper that can be as versatile as your daily driver and off-grid weekend escape pod.
Can’t Afford a Sprinter? Get a Tiny Van Instead. | Emily Pennington | September 16, 2020 | Outside OnlineTo make your escape, remove your 550 laces and tie them together to make a single, long cord.
This essential survival tool can save your life 10 different ways | By Tim MacWelch/Outdoor Life | September 15, 2020 | Popular-ScienceThey have escape routes from their main tunnels and escape routes from their escape routes.
How to hunt for star-nosed moles (and their holes) | Kenneth Catania | September 15, 2020 | Popular-ScienceAs she struggles to hold her marriage together or spend enough time with her kids, the show is keenly aware of how this is a double standard, one that she can’t escape no matter how hard she tries.
One Good Thing: A Danish drama perfect for political devotees, now on Netflix | Emily VanDerWerff | September 11, 2020 | Vox
After the captain made the call to abandon ship, 150 people were able to escape on lifeboats lowered by electronic arms.
‘We’re Going to Die’: Survivors Recount Greek Ferry Fire Horror | Barbie Latza Nadeau | December 29, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe irony did not escape one local, Laith Hathim, as he stood and watched the newly minted refugees make their way into Mosul.
Has the Kurdish Victory at Sinjar Turned the Tide of ISIS War? | Niqash | December 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHis harrowing escape from Vienna when Hitler took Austria in March 1938 is dramatically chronicled in his memoirs.
The Catholic Philosopher Who Took on Hitler | John Henry Crosby | December 26, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThis final episode of Extras is the perfect Christmastime escape for those who prefer the bittersweet to the saccharine.
Cubans are cursed whether they find a means of escape or remain.
The Life and Hard Times Of The Family A Cuban Defector Left Behind | Brin-Jonathan Butler | December 19, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST"Capital, capital," his lordship would remark with great alacrity, when there was no other way of escape.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3) | Charles James WillsThinking to escape and summon assistance from the cantonment, Douglas mounted the wall and leaped into the moat.
The Red Year | Louis TracyAfter the wretch had stabbed her in three places, he went to make his escape out at a window; but she cried out, My dear!
Ripperda's attention was next directed to put his plan of escape, in train for execution.
The Pastor's Fire-side Vol. 3 of 4 | Jane PorterBut one battalion was isolated on a spur, from which there seemed no way of escape save under a scorching flank fire.
Napoleon's Marshals | R. P. Dunn-Pattison
British Dictionary definitions for escape
/ (ɪˈskeɪp) /
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; leak: water was escaping from the dam
(tr) to elude; be forgotten by: the actual figure escapes me
(tr) to be articulated inadvertently or involuntarily: a roar escaped his lips
(intr) (of cultivated plants) to grow wild
the act of escaping or state of having escaped
avoidance of injury, harm, etc: a narrow escape
a means or way of escape
(as modifier): an escape route
a means of distraction or relief, esp from reality or boredom: angling 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
Origin of escape
1Derived 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
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.
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