Word of the Day

: March 10, 2020

escapade

noun ESS-kuh-payd

What It Means

: a usually adventurous action that runs counter to approved or conventional conduct

escapade in Context

"There was a report that people with spotlights were turning picnic tables on their end and using them for snow escapades on Pine Street and West Second Street in Cle Elum." — The Daily Record (Ellensburg, Washington), 22 Jan. 2020

"There was a dramatic escalation in the Senate's milk-drinking escapades. We've written about the trial rules limiting beverage consumption in the Senate chamber to just milk and water, and over the past week several senators have been spotted drinking regular milk at their desks. On Tuesday, Senator Mitt Romney, an important vote in the trial, took it to another level: He brought a bottle of chocolate milk." — Noah Weiland, The New York Times, 28 Jan. 2020

Did You Know?

When it was first used in English, escapade referred to an act of escaping or fleeing from confinement or restraint. The relationship between escape and escapade does not end there. Both words derive from the Vulgar Latin verb excappare, meaning "to escape," a product of the Latin prefix ex- and the Late Latin noun cappa, meaning "head covering or cloak." While escape took its route through Anglo-French and Middle English, however, escapade made its way into English by way of the Spanish escapar ("to escape") and the French escapade.