I. verb
1.
to run away especially from something that limits one's freedom and threatens one's well-being
trying to escape from prison
Synonyms: abscond, break, ||bunk, decamp, flee, fly, scape
Related Word: get away, make off, mosey, run away; bail out, ||ditch, double, duck out, flit, jump, skip; depart; disappear, vanish
Idioms: cut and run, cut loose, fly the coop, take it on the lam
Contrasted words: come back, return; abide, remain, stay; chase, follow, pursue, tag, trail
2.
to get away or keep away from what one does not wish to incur, endure, or encounter
made every effort to escape suspicion
Synonyms: avoid, bilk, double, duck, elude, eschew, evade, shun, shy; compare shake 5, skirt 3
Related Word: burke, bypass, circumvent; dodge, shake, shun, skit; miss
Idioms: fight shy of, give the slip
Contrasted words: catch, contract, incur; abide, bear, brook, endure, stand, suffer, tolerate; dare, face, meet
II. noun
1.
the act or fact of escaping or having escaped physically
succeeded in making his escape from the prison
Synonyms: breakout, escapement, escaping, flight, getaway, lam, ||scape, slip
Related Word: departure; deliverance, liberation, release
Contrasted words: return; grasp, grip, hold, retention; imprisonment, incarceration
2.
the act or fact of escaping or having escaped what one does not wish to incur, encounter, or endure
sought escape from responsibility
Synonyms: avoidance, come-off, elusion, escaping, eschewal, evasion, runaround, shunning
Related Word: bypassing, circumvention, dodging, ducking, sidestepping; elusiveness, evasiveness
Contrasted words: abidance, abiding, bearing, endurance, enduring, submission, submitting, toleration; facing