flee

verb

ˈflē How to pronounce flee (audio)
Definition of fleenext
1
as in to disappear
to cease to be visible the fog fled with the arrival of the dawn

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to escape
to get free from a dangerous or confining situation a murderer who fled on foot

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in to retreat
to hasten away from something dangerous or frightening a toddler who fled when the ladybug he had been quietly watching suddenly began flying around the room

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of flee One person was arrested while trying to flee from police while armed, city officials said. — Eduardo Cuevas, CNN Money, 2 Nov. 2026 Five years later, her parents fled the Communist state with her and her older brother. — Langdon Hammer, New Yorker, 2 Nov. 2026 Two gunmen got out of the vehicle and opened fire before fleeing westbound on Ogden. — Allison Kiehl, Chicago Tribune, 1 Nov. 2026 The town hosts thousands of people, many of whom fled after the RSF seized the city of Al Fasher last year. — Hamza Fahmy, Los Angeles Times, 1 Nov. 2026 See All Example Sentences for flee
Recent Examples of Synonyms for flee
  1. disappear
  2. escape
  3. retreat
  4. vanish
  5. fly
  6. fade
  7. bolt
  8. run
Verb
  • Nearly a year after Christina Downer disappeared, her actor boyfriend was among two people arrested on suspicion of killing her, Los Angeles police said Friday.
    — Emily St. Martin, Los Angeles Times, 31 Oct. 2026
  • Will relief programs that help renters like her pay for utility bills or avoid eviction disappear?
    — Marissa J. Lang, NPR, 30 Oct. 2026
Definition of disappear
Verb
  • Jaros and Rauh also try to account for the uncertainty over whether taxes can be collected from other billionaires, such as the ones who have left since the beginning of the year and may thus have a legal case for escaping the tax.
    — Ramesh Ponnuru, Washington Post, 27 Oct. 2026
  • Arbella escaped, disguised as a man in a wig, boots and sword, with plans to flee to France with her ill-begotten husband.
    — Eva Wolchover, Vanity Fair, 27 Oct. 2026
Definition of escape
Verb
  • The arrival of fall is no reason to retreat into the usual browns, grays, and blacks—a pop of color has long been a transeasonal Jennifer Lawrence signature.
    — Anna Cafolla, Vogue, 29 Oct. 2026
  • Even when lawmakers go through with regulations, industry pushback can force retreat.
    — Bob Herman, STAT, 29 Oct. 2026
Definition of retreat
Verb
  • To cross them was to risk vanishing—not merely from the screen, but from the collective story America told about itself.
    — Jim Hemphill, IndieWire, 27 Oct. 2026
  • The homes where poor people lived have invariably vanished, whether in Paris or in the provinces, whereas bourgeois homes are still standing.
    — Jasmine Vojdani, Vulture, 27 Oct. 2026
Definition of vanish
Verb
  • Claude Fable 5 had produced a counterexample to the conjecture, much like how an ostrich is a counterexample to the conjecture that all birds can fly.
    — Rivka Galchen, New Yorker, 1 Nov. 2026
  • Jimmy Louis, 70, who was flying with his two children, last flew to Haiti two years ago.
    — Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 1 Nov. 2026
Definition of fly
Verb
  • Brown, though, didn't quite let perception fade away a couple of days later.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 27 Oct. 2026
  • The question now is whether shoppers counting every dollar will keep paying for products like cashmere-soft diapers once the novelty fades and if inflation keeps biting.
    — Phil Wahba, Fortune, 27 Oct. 2026
Definition of fade
Verb
  • The companies that capture that value will redesign work around their most creative people, rather than bolting AI onto old processes and counting the empty chairs.
    — Jay Kaplan, Fortune, 27 Oct. 2026
  • Jim Zellers, a pioneer of big-mountain snowboarding and a friend of Morrison’s for almost four decades, had for several years been bolting new routes on this face, refining and naming and grading.
    — Nick Paumgarten, New Yorker, 26 Oct. 2026
Definition of bolt
Verb
  • Thunder star Jalen Williams, the team’s second-leading scorer and best all-around defender during its title run two seasons ago, fractured a fibula and dislocated his left ankle in a gruesome injury Sunday.
    — Andrew Greif, NBC news, 29 Oct. 2026
  • The situation in Oleshky is desperate, with food and medical supplies running perilously low for the up to 2,000 people still there, as drones and land mines restrict movement.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 29 Oct. 2026
Definition of run

Browse Nearby Words

fledglings
flee
fleece
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Flee.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/flee. Accessed 3 Nov. 2026.

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