26984 words

escapes

15 definitions • 32 examples
1
to get free from something such as a prison or cage, or from someone who will not allow you to leave:

Examples:

Two prisoners have escaped.
escape from A lion has escaped from its cage.
She was kidnapped but escaped her captors.
2
to get away from a situation, place, or person that you do not like or that limits your freedom:

Examples:

escape from She would escape from reality by losing herself in books.
He longed to escape the small town where he grew up.
3
to avoid something bad happening to you:

Examples:

escape punishment None of the people responsible should be allowed to escape punishment.
narrowly escape He narrowly (= only just) escaped a fine.
He escaped being made redundant because the company reassigned him.
The sector has remained fairly buoyant during the recession, but it has not escaped entirely.
4
to avoid being noticed by someone:

Examples:

escape someone's notice Nothing important escapes her notice.
escape someone's attention The potential of this substance has not escaped the attention of the pharmaceutical industry.
escape scrutiny Nothing she does escapes media scrutiny.
The historic nature of the vote escaped no one (= everyone was aware of it).
5
to press the key on a computer keyboard that allows you to leave a particular screen and return to the previous one or to interrupt a process:

Examples:

escape from Escape from this window and return to the main menu.
6
in coding (= writing instructions for a computer), to tell a computer that a particular character (= letter, number, etc.) or string (= series of characters) should be understood in a different way to normal, by putting a particular symbol before it:

Examples:

Where an attribute value is a string, you must use double backslashes ( \\ ) to escape characters, such as \\n for a newline or \\uxxxx for a Unicode character.
There are two special characters you need to escape this string: the single quote (') and the back slash (\).
7
the act of successfully getting out of a place or a dangerous or bad situation:

Examples:

make your escape He made his escape on the back of a motorcycle.
escape route She looked around for a possible escape route.
have a narrow escape They had a narrow escape (= only just avoided injury or death) when their car crashed.
8
a loss that happens by accident:

Examples:

an escape of radioactivity
9
something that helps you to forget about your usual life or problems:

Examples:

10
a holiday that takes you away from your ordinary life, or a place where you go on holidays like this:

Examples:

Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket are the favourite escape for many New Yorkers.
11
the key on a computer keyboard that allows you to leave a particular screen and return to the previous one or to interrupt a process:

Examples:

Press Esc to return to the main menu.
12
to become free or get free from, or to avoid something:

Examples:

[ I ] to escape from prison/a burning house
[ T ] The book’s faults have not escaped the notice of (= not been avoided being noticed by) critics.
13
the act or possibility of becoming free or getting away from a place where you are kept esp. by force, or of avoiding a dangerous situation:

Examples:

[ C ] The blast knocked me down – it was a narrow escape (= I was almost hurt badly).
14
An escape is also an unintentional loss:

Examples:

[ C ] an escape of radioactive fuel
15
the key on a computer keyboard which allows you to leave a particular screen and return to the previous one or to interrupt a process:

Examples:

Press Escape to return to the main menu.
To exit the program, use Esc.

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