escape valve

noun

plural escape valves

: safety valve

This dive watch's helium escape valve is conveniently located at 10 o'clock, so you and your watch can easily decompress as you surface.—

Lianna Sisinni

Sandia Mountain is more than a picturesque backdrop to Albuquerque … . It is an escape valve for a booming Sunbelt city.—

James Brooke

Dreaming is the psyche's escape valve …—

Seth Morgan

Examples of escape valve in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The watch, with a helium escape valve, was able to resist water pressure of more than 16,000 pounds per square inch. —

Carol Besler, Robb Report, 7 Mar. 2024 For a certain kind of white Republican voter, Scott’s political career represents an escape valve in a society pressurized by its racist past. —

Robert Samuels, The New Yorker, 1 Nov. 2023 The sleek timepiece features a 41 mm steel case, a unidirectional rotating bezel in black ceramic, a screw-in crown, and a helium escape valve at 11 o’clock. —

Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 16 Aug. 2023 The system works as a sort of escape valve, Kousser said, letting the majority in the state feel in power regardless of what’s happening in Washington, D.C. —

Nicholas Riccardi, Anchorage Daily News, 6 July 2023 The 42 mm stainless-steel model, which is water-resistant up to 300 meters (984 feet), has stood out since its launch in 1993 thanks to a unique dive scale, skeleton hands and helium escape valve. —

Bryan Hood, Robb Report, 27 June 2023 Her clothes remind us of the classic escape valve: putting on a great outfit to face the worst day. —

Rachel Tashjian, Washington Post, 9 May 2023 Maybe the quest to get to Mars that Elon Musk is so dearly pursuing would be an escape valve for the overpopulation on Earth. —

Lance Eliot, Forbes, 5 May 2023 The watch, which also features a helium escape valve (a feature for saturation dive watches developed by Rolex for releasing gas trapped within the watch) at 10 o’clock on the case, is powered by a brand new Blancpain movement, Calibre 13P8, which boasts an admirable five-day power reserve. —

WIRED, 24 Feb. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'escape valve.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.