Escape

/ɪˈskeɪp/ · verb

Meaning

(intransitive) To get free; to free oneself..

Definitions by Sense

1. (intransitive) To get free; to free oneself.
2. (transitive) To avoid (any unpleasant person or thing); to elude, get away from.
3. (intransitive) To avoid capture; to get away with something, avoid punishment.
4. (transitive) To elude the observation or notice of; to not be seen or remembered by.
5. (transitive, computing) To cause (a single character, or all such characters in a string) to be interpreted literally, instead of with any special meaning it would usually have in the same context, often by prefixing with another character.
6. (computing) To halt a program or command by pressing a key (such as the "Esc" key) or combination of keys.
7. The act of leaving a dangerous or unpleasant situation.
8. Leakage or outflow, as of steam or a liquid, or an electric current through defective insulation.

Example Sentences

The prisoners escaped by jumping over a wall.

The factory was evacuated after toxic gases escaped from a pipe.

He only got a fine and so escaped going to jail.

The children climbed out of the window to escape the fire.

sailors that escaped the wreck

In the Southern Region of British Railways, most of the damage was caused by earthslips which blocked one or both roads. Obstructions occurred at 21 places in the London Eastern District, and at 18 places in London Central District. On the other hand, the London Western District escaped comparatively lightly.

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.

It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: perhaps out of a desire to escape the gravity of this world or to get a preview of the next; […].

Synonyms for escape

Antonyms for escape

Related Words

Word Forms

• escapes
• escaping
• escaped

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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