Origin:
before 900; Middle English fleen, Old English flēon; cognate with Old High German flichan (German fliehen), Gothic thliuhan; compare Old English fleogan to fly¹

Related forms

out·flee, verb (used with object), -fled, -flee·ing.

un·flee·ing, adjective

Can be confused: flea, flee.

Synonyms
3. evade, escape, avoid, shun, elude.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To flee

Example Sentences

Hundreds have clogged narrow back roads as they try to flee to the relative safety of the rebel-held mountains to the south.

Another view is that investors anticipate bad news and flee to safety.

Libya's oil output has halved, as foreign workers flee and the country fragments.

EXPAND

Hundreds have clogged narrow back roads as they try to flee to the relative safety of the rebel-held mountains to the south.

Another view is that investors anticipate bad news and flee to safety.

Libya's oil output has halved, as foreign workers flee and the country fragments.

When confronted by predators, elk are likely to flee in a herd, leaving the unwary or weak behind as prime targets.

Whereas all wild animals flee when they can to avoid interaction.

The researchers found that if a snake eats a toad-free diet, it doesn't have any venom-and is more likely to flee than fight.

The bursting of the technology stock market bubble may have prompted many stunned investors to flee that battered sector.

And neither of them are so depressing they make one want to flee academia.

But my point was that the wage differential doesn't mean anything in terms of why people flee from one place to another.

Other potential escape routes pose similarly daunting obstacles for those tempted to flee.

Either that or see strategically important industries flee.

Watching humans flee from dinosaurs might make for exciting cinema, but it is absolutely awful history.

The volcano has experienced some small explosions over the last week that has caused villagers to flee.

The usual method seems to be to subdue the victim by downing or grasping it so it can't flee.

Exchanged around the world are flashing red today, commodity prices are tumbling, and the dollar is soaring as traders flee risk.

Although warthogs look fierce, they are actually herbivores who prefer to flee rather than fight.

When a certain operation is applied repeatedly to the numbers, the ones outside the set flee to infinity.

They leaned into the wind, their necks stiff, prepared to flee.

Barely two days later, he was arrested on a plane trying to flee the country.

Many flee from the pain of trying into whatever distractions are convenient.

Thousands flee to seek survival in the bush or in camps supplied by aid agencies.

Because they hide and do not typically flee from humans, they are easily stepped on, leading to a bite.

Many others have taken advantage of a special five-day holiday to flee the city.

But as the climate warms and residents flee ever roastier summers, this bird will descend back into the ashes.

Those intolerant to the energy of molecular motion are advised to flee from the culinary laboratory.

Of nine policemen sent to guard the site late last year, four were murdered and the rest forced to flee.

Hunting is something you do with animals that have a chance to hide or flee.

Feel free to flee this site in horror if you find such topics as videogame emulation distasteful.

Emerging-market crises have a nasty habit of spreading as investors flee one country after another.

When a certain operation is applied re peatedly to the numbers, the ones out side the set flee to infinity.

Centrifugal force is the force that makes something flee from the center.

It's much easier to extricate yourself from a relationship that isn't working if you have your own place to flee to.

The investors shortsell the company, then the star employees flee headlong for the headhunters.

Not all succeed and some flee to become entrepreneurs.

Dense plantings create welcoming spaces for wild creatures to make their homes, and gives them a place to flee from.

Some creatures flee deadly summer heat or winter cold, while many meet up to mate and produce the next generation.

Thousands were able to flee while the eruption was in progress, and their footprints were pressed into the ash as they went.

The hyenas flee their feeding as a male lion takes over the kill.

The lesson of the past year is that it is still a currency to flee to, not from.

They flee in panic grabbing family members who stubble into the chaotic darkness.

Gr63a could not detect concentrated carbon dioxide mixtures that normal flies--which are carbon dioxide-averse--would flee from.

Once the caterpillar becomes a butterfly it must quickly flee the nest, spread its wings and begin the cycle anew.

Effective night-vision shots create a sense of helplessness as characters flee hungry monsters in the dark.

No doubt many of those fresh-faced fighters will be killed or forced to flee in the next few months.

Rangers themselves were forced to flee when they came to investigate the woman's disappearance.

The two men were attempting to flee the country in order to avoid capture,” the coalition said in its statement.

Fish, shrimp, and all other marine organisms that require oxygen to survive either flee the zone or die.

The trick seems to be a realization that the sensations are not something to fight,freeze or try to flee from.

Animals that were less likely to flee from people became increasingly tame through the generations.

Also, the world has no more open spaces where a large number of climate refugees can flee too.

News organizations continue to cut back on staff and bureaus as ad dollars continue to flee newsprint.

Huge numbers of people flee the country side each year because they can't feed their families by agriculture.

The fires have incinerated hundreds of wooden homes, forcing thousands of people to flee with only the clothes on their back….

Characters in the film flee the disease only to fall victim to death by hanging.

Snakes that are able to flee the burrow will do so-into the arms of hunters.

Geographic concerns are also paramount for the refugees who may attempt to flee from danger.

He had refused to flee his home when the rumblings began.

The racket, diesel exhaust, and looming tires had probably made mama bear flee.

Now when they catch wind of humans, they hide or flee.

Hexabranchus sanguineus can flee danger by taking to the open sea-a skill many of its cousins lack.

Cities were paralyzed as millions tried to flee the epidemic.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

flee¹ (fliː)

—vb , flees, fleeing, fled
1.	to run away from (a place, danger, etc); fly: to flee the country
2.	(intr) to run or move quickly; rush; speed: she fled to the door

[Old English flēon; related to Old Frisian fliā, Old High German fliohan, Gothic thliuhan]

'fleer¹

—n

flee² (fliː)

—vb
1.	a Scot word for fly

—n
2.	a Scot word for fly

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

flee

O.E. fleon "take flight" (contracted class II strong verb; past tense fleah, pp. flogen), from P.Gmc. *thleukhanan (cf. O.H.G. fliohan, O.N. flöja, Du. vlieden, Ger. fliehen, Goth. þliuhan "to flee"), of unknown origin. Not found outside Germanic. Weak pt./pp. fled emerged M.E., under influence

EXPAND

of Scandinavian. O.E. had a trans. form, geflieman "put to flight," which came in handy in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Related: Fleeing.

COLLAPSE

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People who can define Flee may know 11,290 words.

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bunk bush face fight-or-flight reaction flea-bitten flea-flicker

Matching Quote

"The discipline of the Old Testament may be summed up as a discipline teaching us to abhor and flee from sin; the discipline of the New Testament, as a discipline teaching us to die to it."

-Matthew Arnold

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