escape

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verb es·cape \ i-ˈskāp , e- , dialectal ik-ˈskāp \

Definition of escape

escaped; escaping

intransitive verb

1 a :to get away (as by flight)

escaped from prison

b :to issue from confinement

gas is escaping

c of a plant :to run wild from cultivation

2 :to avoid a threatening evil

the boat sank but the crew escaped

transitive verb

1 :to get free of :break away from

escape the jungle

escape the solar system

2 :to get or stay out of the way of :avoid

efforts to escape poverty

3 :to fail to be noticed or recallable by

his name escapes me

4 a :to issue from

a smile escaped me

b :to be uttered involuntarily by

a sigh of relief escaped her

—

escaper

noun

See escape defined for English-language learners

See escape defined for kids

Examples of escape in a Sentence

They managed to escape from the burning building.
He needed a vacation to escape the routine of daily life.
She moved to the city to escape the memory of her mother's death.
trying to help people to escape poverty
trying to help people to escape from poverty
He succeeded in escaping punishment for many years.
A few passengers somehow escaped injury.
She barely escaped death when her car slid off the road.
Several passengers escaped without injury.

Recent Examples of escape from the Web

Not even low-volume, high-dollar supercars can escape the grips of upcoming emissions restrictions.

— tony markovich, Car and Driver, "High-Bred Hybrids: Aston Martin Plans to Electrify All Models," 30 Aug. 2017
Most Texas residents were told to move north to other parts of Texas to escape the storm.

— julia o'donoghue, NOLA.com, "John Bel Edwards: Louisiana is 'not out of the woods' with Harvey," 27 Aug. 2017
Some tweets highlighted ordinary citizens using their boats to help folks escape.

— jeff wilson, star-telegram, "Rangers Reaction: Houston needs help with Harvey, not baseball," 27 Aug. 2017
When threatened, males have been observed running away from a mother and baby saki, hoping potential predators will follow him and allowing the others to escape.

— sarah gibbens, National Geographic, "Mysterious Amazon Animal Seen Alive for First Time in 80 Years," 25 Aug. 2017
Wet Cash has run for 18 months, but mostly escaped attention until recently, when news of its startling acts and modest but loyal following started circulating by word of mouth.

— steve heisler, Chicago Reader, "Wet Cash doesn’t water down its humor," 24 Aug. 2017
Police say the little girl tried to escape the vehicle, to no avail, the Pensacola News Journal reports.

— breanna edwards, The Root, "2 Fla. Day Care Employees Charged in Death of 3-Year-Old Left in Hot Van for 4 Hours," 24 Aug. 2017
Johnny Lewis led off with a home run against Maloney, who also yielded a single two batters later to Roy McMillan but escaped without giving up another run.

— ted keith, SI.com, "From Haddix To Hill, Five Of The Most Heartbreaking Near No-Hitters In Baseball History," 24 Aug. 2017
Family rescued after taking shelter from flood waters on roof of house for eight hours An Overland Park family climbed to the roof of their house near the Blue River Tuesday to escape flood waters that surrounded their home.

— max londberg, kansascity, "Morning Rush: Sal Perez returns in win; Yoder at town hall; family rescued from flood," 23 Aug. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'escape.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

If you were being held captive by someone gripping the coat or cloak you were wearing, you might be able to get away by slipping out of it. This is the idea on which the word escape is based. Escape is made up of the Latin prefix ex-, which means “out of,” and the Latin word cappa, which means “head covering” or “cloak.”

Origin and Etymology of escape

Middle English, from Anglo-French escaper, eschaper, from Vulgar Latin *excappare, from Latin ex- + Late Latin cappa head covering, cloak

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 13th century

See Words from the same year

escape Synonyms

Synonyms

abscond, break out (of), clear out, flee, fly, get out, lam, run away, run off, break free, fight shy of, keep clear of, stay clear of, steer clear of

Related Words

avoid, elude, evade, lose, shun; decamp, depart, elope, exit, go, leave, move, pull out, quit, sally (forth), shove (off), take off, walk out; disentangle, extricate; bring off, emancipate, enfranchise, free, liberate, loose, loosen, manumit, redeem, release, rescue, spring, unbind, uncage, unchain, unfetter

Near Antonyms

abide, dwell, hang around, linger, remain, stay, stick around, tarry; come back, return

Synonym Discussion of escape

escape, avoid, evade, elude, shun, eschew mean to get away or keep away from something. escape stresses the fact of getting away or being passed by not necessarily through effort or by conscious intent.

- nothing escapes her sharp eyes

avoid stresses forethought and caution in keeping clear of danger or difficulty.

- try to avoid past errors

evade implies adroitness, ingenuity, or lack of scruple in escaping or avoiding.

- evaded the question by changing the subject

elude implies a slippery or baffling quality in the person or thing that escapes.

- what she sees in him eludes me

shun often implies an avoiding as a matter of habitual practice or policy and may imply repugnance or abhorrence.

- you have shunned your responsibilities

eschew implies an avoiding or abstaining from as unwise or distasteful.

- a playwright who eschews melodrama

escape

noun

Definition of escape

1 :an act or instance of escaping: such as

a :flight from confinement

b :evasion of something undesirable

c :leakage or outflow especially of a fluid

d :distraction or relief from routine or reality

2 :a means of escape

3 :a cultivated plant run wild

4 or less commonly Escape :escape key

See escape defined for English-language learners

Examples of escape in a Sentence

The prisoners attempted a daring escape.
He celebrated his escape from his boring job with a long vacation.
She had a lucky escape when she wasn't injured in the accident.
She managed to avoid serious injury, but it was a narrow escape.
The door was locked; there was no escape.
Gardening offered an escape from her busy life.
an accidental escape of poisonous gases
trying to prevent further escape of liquid

Recent Examples of escape from the Web

Escape Velocity The Museum of Science Fiction presents its second annual convention and science and engineering festival for all ages.

— carrie donovan, Washington Post, "Going Out Guide for the District, Aug. 31-Sept. 6, 2017," 30 Aug. 2017
Man City are set to offer wantaway Arsenal star Alexis Sanchez an escape route with a £70m deal with Jason Denayer’s services included in the offer, according to The Daily Star.

— SI.com, "Man City Set to Offer a Staggering £70m Plus Underused Defender for Wantaway Arsenal Star," 28 Aug. 2017
TV is an escape and sometimes our favorite characters wins are our wins.

— elyse roth, Glamour, "'Game of Thrones' Season 7 Finale Recap: A Major Death, That Jon and Daenerys Thing Happened, and So Much More," 28 Aug. 2017
Noticias Caracol director Juan Roberto Vargas said coverage in recent years of President Nicolas Maduro’s border closing and the escape last week of Venezuela’s ousted public prosecutor Luisa Ortega Diaz to Colombia may be behind the decision.

— christine jenkins, Bloomberg.com, "Colombian Television Networks Pulled Off Air in Venezuela," 24 Aug. 2017
He was booked into Madison County Metro Jail for third-degree escape and disorderly conduct, according to jail records.

— jonece starr dunigan, AL.com, "Escaped Huntsville inmate captured at pharmacy," 24 Aug. 2017
However, Howard was charged Tuesday with aggravated escape from custody on Saturday.

— robert a. cronkleton, kansascity, "Fugitive woman killed in police shooting while officers serve arrest warrant in Olathe," 24 Aug. 2017
The lack of sentry towers and perimeter lighting on the fences meant that escape attempts were extremely likely.

— jamie pringle and peter doyle, Smithsonian, "This Newly Excavated Underground Tunnel Reveals How 83 German Officers Escaped a World War II Prison Camp," 11 Aug. 2017
The brown-brick exterior was crisscrossed by fire escapes, with air-conditioning units hanging outside of windows.

— Longreads, "The Brief Career and Self-Imposed Exile of Jutta Hipp, Jazz Pianist," 4 Aug. 2017

First Known Use of escape

14th century

escape Synonyms

Synonyms

break, breakout, bunk [British], flight, getaway, lam, rout, slip

Related Words

jailbreak; deliverance, liberation, redemption, release, rescue, salvation; close call, close shave, near miss

Near Antonyms

captivity, confinement, immurement, imprisonment, incarceration, internment; custody, detention, hold, holding, retention; endangerment, hazard, imperilment, jeopardy, peril, risk, trouble

escape

adjective

Definition of escape

1 :providing a means of escape

escape literature

2 :providing a means of evading a regulation, claim, or commitment

an escape clause in a contract

Recent Examples of escape from the Web

There are already escape room businesses in Aurora, Naperville, McHenry, St. Charles, Schaumburg, Wheaton, quite a few other suburbs and in Chicago.

— mike danahey, Elgin Courier-News, "Escape room opens in downtown Elgin," 25 July 2017

First Known Use of escape

1817

ESCAPE Defined for English Language Learners

escape

play

verb

Definition of escape for English Language Learners

: to get away from a place (such as a prison) where you are being held or kept
: to get away from a dangerous place or situation
: to get away from something that is difficult or unpleasant

escape

noun

Definition of escape for English Language Learners

: an act of escaping from a place, situation, etc.
: a way of escaping from a place, situation, etc.
: an occurrence in which an amount of liquid or gas passes out through a hole or crack in a container

ESCAPE Defined for Kids

escape

play

verb es·cape \ i-ˈskāp \

Definition of escape for Students

escaped; escaping

1 :to get away :get free or clear

Everyone escaped from the burning building.

2 :to keep free of :avoid

She managed to escape injury.

3 :to fail to be noticed or remembered by

The name escapes me.

4 :to leak out

Gas is escaping from the tank.

History for escape

Picture a person who is held by a cape or cloak. The person may be able to slip out of the garment and so escape from the captor. The word escape is based on such a picture. The word escape came from an Old French verb escaper or eschaper. This word in turn came ultimately from the Latin words ex, “out of,” and cappa, “head covering, cloak.”

escape

noun

Definition of escape for Students

1 :the act of getting away

a narrow escape

2 :a way of getting away

… there was no escape except up the cliff.
—Jack London, The Call of the Wild

Medical Dictionary

escape

play

verb es·cape \ is-ˈkāp \

medical Definition of escape

escaped; escaping

intransitive verb

:to avoid or find relief from something by means of an escape

transitive verb

:to avoid or find relief from (something) by means of an escape

he was unable to escape reality

escape

noun

medical Definition of escape

:an act or instance of escaping: as

a :evasion of something undesirable

find no method of escape from pain and suffering

b :distraction or relief from routine or reality; especially :mental distraction or relief by flight into idealizing fantasy or fiction that serves to glorify the self

escape

adjective

medical Definition of escape

:providing a means of escape

escape literature

Law Dictionary

escape

intransitive verb es·cape

legal Definition of escape

escaped; escaping

:to depart from lawful custody with the intent of avoiding confinement or the administration of justice

escape

noun

legal Definition of escape

1 :an act or instance of escaping

2 :the criminal offense of escaping

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See words that rhyme with escape Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for escape Spanish Central: Translation of escape Nglish: Translation of escape for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of escape for Arabic speakers

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escape

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Origin and Etymology of escape

escape Synonyms

Synonyms

Related Words

Near Antonyms

Synonym Discussion of escape

escape

Definition of escape

Examples of escape in a Sentence

Recent Examples of escape from the Web

First Known Use of escape

escape Synonyms

Synonyms

Related Words

Near Antonyms

escape

Definition of escape

Recent Examples of escape from the Web

First Known Use of escape

ESCAPE Defined for English Language Learners

escape

Definition of escape for English Language Learners

escape

Definition of escape for English Language Learners

ESCAPE Defined for Kids

escape

Definition of escape for Students

History for escape

escape

Definition of escape for Students

Medical Dictionary

escape

medical Definition of escape

escape

medical Definition of escape

escape

medical Definition of escape

Law Dictionary

escape

legal Definition of escape

escape

legal Definition of escape

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