flee

/fli/

/fli/

Other forms: fled; fleeing; flees

If you bolt, scram, skedaddle, or get the heck of out Dodge, you flee. You run away fast. Don’t confuse flee with "flea." They sound alike, but the second kind is an insect whose bites make you itch.

We get the word flee from Old English fleon. When you flee, you get away as quickly as you can. You might even take flight to escape — usually from a dangerous place or situation. In a moment of panic after stealing a cookie from the cookie jar, you might decide to flee the scene of the crime.

Definitions of flee

1. verb

   run away quickly
   synonyms: fly, take flight

   types:

   break

   make a rupture in the ranks of the enemy or one's own by quitting or fleeing

   stampede

   run away in a stampede

   abscond, absquatulate, bolt, decamp, go off, make off, run off

   run away; usually includes taking something or somebody along

   elope, run off

   run away secretly with one's beloved

   break loose, escape, get away

   run away from confinement

   high-tail

   retreat at full speed

   defect, desert

   desert (a cause, a country or an army), often in order to join the opposing cause, country, or army

   break, break away, break out

   move away or escape suddenly

   escape from, shake, shake off, throw off

   get rid of

   levant

   run off without paying a debt

   bilk, elude, evade

   escape, either physically or mentally

   slip

   move smoothly and easily

   run away

   escape from the control of

   rat

   desert one's party or group of friends, for example, for one's personal advantage

   escape, get away

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

   type of:

   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

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