as in to flee
to hasten away from something dangerous or frightening
when a fight broke out, we hightailed it out of the bar
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hightail (it)
Verb
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The suspect fled from the hospital after the shooting and was later taken into custody, where a weapon was recovered, the Police Department said.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
27 Apr. 2026 -
In May 2020, sheriff’s deputy Aaron Russell, who was assigned to the Central Jail, shot and killed 36-year-old Nicholas Bils as Bils fled, unarmed, after slipping out of handcuffs just outside the facility.—
Kelly Davis,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
26 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Rebel, not knowing whether the ball was caught, didn’t retreat back to first, Gilbert said.—
Lou Ponsi,
Oc Register,
23 Apr. 2026
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Japan and South Korea stocks hit record highs overnight, before Asia-Pacific markets retreated into negative territory, following the reports of Iran tanker interceptions.—
Hugh Leask,Holly Ellyatt,Chloe Taylor,
CNBC,
23 Apr. 2026
Verb
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By the final showdown, the production has made use of every bit of stage space, with sensational flying sequences (choreographed by Lauren Yalango-Grant and Christopher Cree Grant) that allow the vampires to float, hover, and—in one especially intense moment—dive from that bridge.—
Emily Nussbaum,
New Yorker,
30 Apr. 2026
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Worst of all, like Zoolander 2 did before it, the film badly miscalculates the value of showbiz and industry cameos, which reach critical mass when the team members fly to Milan and, weirdly, only one of the latter (Donatella Versace, having an awkward lunch with Emily) seems to work.—
Damon Wise,
Deadline,
29 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Her husband’s former colleagues had bolted a memorial plaque to him on the wall between the third and fourth reactor units.—
Lizzie Johnson,
New Yorker,
25 Apr. 2026
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Instead of bearing fishing poles, most have Soviet-era heavy machine guns bolted to their bows with a small rocket launcher atop.—
Jon Gambrell,
Fortune,
24 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The Knicks made life difficult for him in the halfcourt, and once that happened, Atlanta’s offense kept running into dead ends.—
C.J. Holmes,
New York Daily News,
29 Apr. 2026
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Funding to run the Orange Line 24 hours a day, one of the first major service improvements that acting CTA President Nora Leerhsen floated after lawmakers approved new transit funding last fall.—
Talia Soglin,
Chicago Tribune,
28 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The irony of the baseball game did not escape me, the two of us sitting next to each other, enjoying America’s pastime together, the way a father and son might do.—
Cressida Leyshon,
New Yorker,
26 Apr. 2026
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Ask Theo Epstein, who once escaped the Henry regime in a gorilla suit, only to return, win a second Series and then bolt for the Chicago Cubs.—
Ken Rosenthal,
New York Times,
26 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Garcia runs away screaming toward a third officer and drops the stick before he’s pushed down into a bed of bushes growing along the street curb.—
Ruben Vives,
Los Angeles Times,
23 Apr. 2026
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In what ends up getting published, Sue is running away in fear, but only because she was forced to experience death with Carrie.—
Fiction Non Fiction,
Literary Hub,
23 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Police said after the crash, the group ran off and one of the people fired shots at officers and an officer fired shots back.—
Asal Rezaei,
CBS News,
25 Apr. 2026
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This will allow rain to soak down into the aquifers, instead of running off into storm drains and into the ocean.—
Steve Scauzillo,
Daily News,
24 Apr. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Hightail (it).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hightail%20%28it%29. Accessed 30 Apr. 2026.
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