ESCAPE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does escape mean? 

• ESCAPE (noun)
  The noun ESCAPE has 8 senses:

1. the act of escaping physically

2. an inclination to retreat from unpleasant realities through diversion or fantasy

3. nonperformance of something distasteful (as by deceit or trickery) that you are supposed to do

4. an avoidance of danger or difficulty

5. a means or way of escaping

6. a plant originally cultivated but now growing wild

7. the discharge of a fluid from some container

8. a valve in a container in which pressure can build up (as a steam boiler); it opens automatically when the pressure reaches a dangerous level

  Familiarity information: ESCAPE used as a noun is common.

• ESCAPE (verb)
  The verb ESCAPE has 7 senses:

1. run away from confinement

2. fail to experience

3. escape potentially unpleasant consequences; get away with a forbidden action

4. be incomprehensible to; escape understanding by

5. remove oneself from a familiar environment, usually for pleasure or diversion

6. flee; take to one's heels; cut and run

7. issue or leak, as from a small opening

  Familiarity information: ESCAPE used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ESCAPE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of escaping physically

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

escape; flight

Context example:

his flight was an indication of his guilt

Hypernyms ("escape" is a kind of...):

running away (the act of leaving (without permission) the place you are expected to be)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "escape"):

break; breakout; gaolbreak; jailbreak; prison-breaking; prisonbreak (an escape from jail)

getaway; lam (a rapid escape (as by criminals))

exodus; hegira; hejira (a journey by a large group to escape from a hostile environment)

skedaddle (a hasty flight)

evasion (the act of physically escaping from something (an opponent or a pursuer or an unpleasant situation) by some adroit maneuver)

Instance hyponyms:

Hegira; Hejira (the flight of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in 622 which marked the beginning of the Muslim era; the Muslim calendar begins in that year)

Underground Railroad; Underground Railway (secret aid to escaping slaves that was provided by abolitionists in the years before the American Civil War)

Derivation:

escape (run away from confinement)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An inclination to retreat from unpleasant realities through diversion or fantasy

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

escape; escapism

Context example:

his alcohol problem was a form of escapism

Hypernyms ("escape" is a kind of...):

diversion; recreation (an activity that diverts or amuses or stimulates)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Nonperformance of something distasteful (as by deceit or trickery) that you are supposed to do

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

dodging; escape; evasion

Context example:

that escape from the consequences is possible but unattractive

Hypernyms ("escape" is a kind of...):

carelessness; neglect; negligence; nonperformance (failure to act with the prudence that a reasonable person would exercise under the same circumstances)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "escape"):

escape mechanism (a form of behavior that evades unpleasant realities)

malingering; skulking (evading duty or work by pretending to be incapacitated)

goldbricking; goofing off; shirking; slacking; soldiering (the evasion of work or duty)

circumvention (the act of evading by going around)

Derivation:

escape (fail to experience)

escape (escape potentially unpleasant consequences; get away with a forbidden action)

escape (remove oneself from a familiar environment, usually for pleasure or diversion)

Sense 4

Meaning:

An avoidance of danger or difficulty

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

that was a narrow escape

Hypernyms ("escape" is a kind of...):

avoidance; dodging; shunning; turning away (deliberately avoiding; keeping away from or preventing from happening)

Derivation:

escape (fail to experience)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A means or way of escaping

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

their escape route

Hypernyms ("escape" is a kind of...):

agency; means; way (thing or person that acts to produce a particular effect or achieve an end)

Derivation:

escape (run away from confinement)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A plant originally cultivated but now growing wild

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("escape" is a kind of...):

flora; plant; plant life ((botany) a living organism lacking the power of locomotion)

Sense 7

Meaning:

The discharge of a fluid from some container

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

escape; leak; leakage; outflow

Context example:

he had to clean up the leak

Hypernyms ("escape" is a kind of...):

discharge; outpouring; run (the pouring forth of a fluid)

Derivation:

escape (issue or leak, as from a small opening)

Sense 8

Meaning:

A valve in a container in which pressure can build up (as a steam boiler); it opens automatically when the pressure reaches a dangerous level

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

escape; escape cock; escape valve; relief valve; safety valve

Hypernyms ("escape" is a kind of...):

regulator (any of various controls or devices for regulating or controlling fluid flow, pressure, temperature, etc.)

valve (control consisting of a mechanical device for controlling the flow of a fluid)

• ESCAPE (verb)

Conjugation:

Sense 1

Meaning:

Run away from confinement

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

break loose; escape; get away

Context example:

The convicted murderer escaped from a high security prison

Hypernyms (to "escape" is one way to...):

flee; fly; take flight (run away quickly)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "escape"):

break; break away; break out (move away or escape suddenly)

escape from; shake; shake off; throw off (get rid of)

bilk; elude; evade (escape, either physically or mentally)

exfiltrate (escape furtively, as from an area under enemy control)

slip (move smoothly and easily)

run away (escape from the control of)

escape; get away (remove oneself from a familiar environment, usually for pleasure or diversion)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

escape (the act of escaping physically)

escape (a means or way of escaping)

escapee (someone who escapes)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Fail to experience

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

escape; miss

Context example:

Fortunately, I missed the hurricane

Hypernyms (to "escape" is one way to...):

avoid (stay clear from; keep away from; keep out of the way of someone or something)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

escape (an avoidance of danger or difficulty)

escape (nonperformance of something distasteful (as by deceit or trickery) that you are supposed to do)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Escape potentially unpleasant consequences; get away with a forbidden action

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

escape; get away; get by; get off; get out

Context example:

I couldn't get out from under these responsibilities

Hypernyms (to "escape" is one way to...):

avoid (stay clear from; keep away from; keep out of the way of someone or something)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "escape"):

evade (use cunning or deceit to escape or avoid)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

escape (nonperformance of something distasteful (as by deceit or trickery) that you are supposed to do)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Be incomprehensible to; escape understanding by

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

elude; escape

Context example:

What you are seeing in him eludes me

Hypernyms (to "escape" is one way to...):

amaze; baffle; beat; bewilder; dumbfound; flummox; get; gravel; mystify; nonplus; perplex; pose; puzzle; stick; stupefy; vex (be a mystery or bewildering to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "escape"):

defy; refuse; resist (elude, especially in a baffling way)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The performance is likely to escape Sue

Sense 5

Meaning:

Remove oneself from a familiar environment, usually for pleasure or diversion

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

escape; get away

Context example:

The president of the company never manages to get away during the summer

Hypernyms (to "escape" is one way to...):

break loose; escape; get away (run away from confinement)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

escape (nonperformance of something distasteful (as by deceit or trickery) that you are supposed to do)

escapist (a person who escapes into a world of fantasy)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Flee; take to one's heels; cut and run

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

break away; bunk; escape; fly the coop; head for the hills; hightail it; lam; run; run away; scarper; scat; take to the woods; turn tail

Context example:

The burglars escaped before the police showed up

Hypernyms (to "escape" is one way to...):

go away; go forth; leave (go away from a place)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "escape"):

flee; fly; take flight (run away quickly)

skedaddle (run away, as if in a panic)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 7

Meaning:

Issue or leak, as from a small opening

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

Gas escaped into the bedroom

Hypernyms (to "escape" is one way to...):

come forth; come out; egress; emerge; go forth; issue (come out of)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Derivation:

escape (the discharge of a fluid from some container)

 Context examples 

This is because in many rooms, windows are positioned halfway up the wall, and when they are opened, the warm air near the ceiling can’t easily escape.

(Wind more effective than cold air at cooling rooms naturally, University of Cambridge)

That key must be in the Count's room; I must watch should his door be unlocked, so that I may get it and escape.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Again, the rim ice broke away before and behind, and there was no escape except up the cliff.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

About two-thirds of that vapor escapes into space, but about one-third lands back on the surface of the Moon.

(Meteoroid Strikes Eject Precious Water From Moon, NASA)

NASA's MAVEN mission arrived at Mars in 2014 to study the process of atmosphere escape.

(Dust Storms Linked to Gas Escape from Mars Atmosphere, NASA)

I narrowly escaped being run over, twenty times at least, in half a mile.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It is possible that a big star blew the bubble and, because stars are all in motion, subsequently left the scene, escaping detection.

(Herschel sees budding stars and a giant, strange ring, NASA)

This technology, which was applied on an industrial scale at the facilities of Biomasa del Guadalquivir, uses a semi-permeable cover (membrane) system that prevents unpleasant smells from escaping and shortens the process time.

(Scientists validate a new technology that transforms sewage sludge into fertilizer more efficiently, University of Granada)

This new research shows, however, that oxygen also suppresses the anticancer activity of T cells, thereby permitting cancer cells that have spread to the lungs to escape immune attack and establish metastatic colonies.

(Oxygen can impair cancer immunotherapy in mice, NIH)

Some neutrons get absorbed into the surface, while others escape.

(Where is the Ice on Ceres?, NASA)