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escape

/ɪˈskeɪp/
verbnoun

To get free; to free oneself.

NWL Collins ENABLE

Verb 4 meanings

  1. To get free; to free oneself.

    “The prisoners escaped by jumping over a wall.”

  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.”

  4. To avoid capture; to get away with something, avoid punishment.

    “Luckily, I escaped with only a fine.”

Noun 4 meanings

  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.

  4. A holiday, viewed as time away from the vicissitudes of life.

Definitions: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA) via Kaikki/Wiktextract

Where it comes from

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”).

ESCAPE at a glance

ESCAPE has 6 letters and scores 10 points in Scrabble (E 1 + S 1 + C 3 + A 1 + P 3 + E 1) and 12 in Words With Friends, before board bonuses. It ranks #2,237 by how often it appears in everyday English. It is valid in ENABLE, NWL2023, Collins/SOWPODS.

Rhymes with escape

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