escape
Forms
- present (v1)
- escape
- past (v2)
- escaped
- past participle (v3)
- escaped
- present participle
- escaping
- 3rd person singular
- escapes
- Plural
- escapes
Definitions
1.To get free; to free oneself.
- The prisoners escaped by jumping over a wall.
- The factory was evacuated after toxic gases escaped from a pipe.
2.To break out of confinement.
- The prisoners escaped their cell.
3.To avoid (any unpleasant person or thing); to elude, get away from.
- He only got a fine and so escaped going to jail.
- The children climbed out of the window to escape the fire.
- Luiz was Chelsea's stand-out performer, although Ferguson also had a case when he questioned how the £21m defender escaped a red card after the break for a hack at Rooney, with the Brazilian having already been booked.
4.To avoid capture; to get away with something, avoid punishment.
- Luckily, I escaped with only a fine.
1.The act of leaving a dangerous or unpleasant situation.
- The prisoners made their escape by digging a tunnel.
2.Leakage or outflow, as of steam or a liquid, or an electric current through defective insulation.
3.Something that has escaped; an escapee.
- But what about the flocks of Waxbills? Are they escapes gone feral, or are they spreading from Africa?
4.A holiday, viewed as time away from the vicissitudes of life.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #2074
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Etymology
From Middle English escapen, from Anglo-Norman and Old Northern French escaper ( = Old French eschaper, modern French échapper), from Vulgar Latin *excappāre (“to escape a garment, get out of one's clothing”, literally “to free oneself from one's cape”), from Latin ex- (“out”) + Late Latin cappa (“cape, cloak”).