flee
Verb
Verb Forms: fled, fleeing, flees
- To run away or escape rapidly from danger or a place.
- run away quickly
- To run away; to escape.
- To escape from.
- To disappear quickly; to vanish; to fleet.
Examples
- Ethereal products flee once freely exposed to air.
- Many people fled the country as war loomed.
- The prisoner tried to flee, but was caught by the guards.
- Thousands of people moved northward trying to flee the drought.
- When opponents play a triple word score, I often feel like my chances flee.
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English flen, from Old English flēon, from Proto-Germanic *fleuhaną, from Proto-Indo-European *plewk-, *plew- (“to fly, flow, run”).
Cognate with Dutch vlieden, German fliehen, Icelandic flýja, Swedish fly, Gothic 𐌸𐌻𐌹𐌿𐌷𐌰𐌽 (þliuhan). Within English, related to fly and more distantly to flow.
Synonyms
fly, take flight, absquatulate, amscray, beat a retreat, beat feet, beat it, blow this popsicle stand, bolt, book it, dine and dash, do a bunk, do a flit, do a moonlight flit, do a runner, flee, fly the coop, gas and dash, get lost, get out, gnash, head for the hills, hightail, hightail it, hit the road, jump, kick rocks, leg it, make a break for it, make a run for it, make tracks, namous, peg it, rabbit, run a mile, run away, run for the hills, run off, scamper, scarper, scat, scram, shemozzle, skedaddle, smash and dash, take a powder, take off, take to one's heels, take to the hills, tear off, turn tail, vamoose
Scrabble Score: 7
flee: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordflee: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
flee: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary